May You Always
by lunettawolf321
Summary: His job is, and has always been, to do everything he can for the other elves. But when a reckless decision leaves him hurt and sick, Bernard must rely on Santa and his friends to save him. Even if it means bringing up a past he buried long ago. Some slight Bernard/OC, but that's not the focus.
1. Chapter 1

**Season's Greeting everyone! So I've given myelf a little challenge this December. I wanted to see if I could start and finish this story by the end of the month. The Santa Clause has always been my favorite Christmas movie so I thought I'd finally sit down and write something for it! This story will be about nine chapters long. I'm going to give it a T rating just to be safe, but I really don't think it needs it. If you like what you read, please review, because I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you dont feel like reviewing, that's okay too! Just sit back and enjoy.**

**If anyone's wondering, the title comes from the song May You Always by The McGuire Sisters. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Santa Clause series, that is owned by Disney.**

"Comet! Where are you boy?" Bernard called, his mitted hands cupped around his mouth to help his voice carry across the snowy field. His only answer was the echo of his question dancing back towards him. Bernard let out an aggravated sigh that turned to mist in the chilly air.

"Losing hope, Head Elf Bernard?" A teasing, posh voice asked. He turned around, the crunching of snow beneath his pointed boots sounding louder than Santa's workshop in a mid-December rush. Quentin's grinning face greeted him, freckles and cheeks scrunched up in playful optimism. Bernard couldn't help but notice how his friend's purple pom-pom cap, wore low over his ears to guard them from the cold, and Christmas tree green velvet coat stood out obnoxiously bright against the backdrop of white from the field they stood in. If it were Quentin lost out here, instead of Comet, Bernard had no doubt in his mind that he'd have found him already. Twice, probably.

"Nah, just kinda irritated he even got out in the first place." Bernard answered. A wisp of frozen air snuck its way through his heavy brown coat. He shivered.

"Don't worry, we'll find him soon. And then we can finally head back to the workshop for fresh hot cocoa." Said a cheery, feminine voice. Bernard smiled gratefully at Judy, who had traded in her pointed hat today for a lovely cream hooded cloak and was currently blending in quite well with a large pile of snow by a cluster of trees. Her cocoa was the best and definitely something he was going to need after this mess.

"How did he get out again?" Quentin asked.

"I told you, I'm not entirely sure, but I think Jack Frost let him out."

"And what makes you think it was Frost?"

"Because Larry said he saw Jack Frost leaving the stables right before he noticed Comet was missing. _And_ there was a half melted chunk of ice right next to Comet's pen door. So to me, all signs are pointing to Frost playing another one of his dumb tricks."

Jack Frost, Legendary Figure and Heralder of the Winter Season, was to Bernard nothing more than an irksome troublemaker. Every time he came to the North Pole, he found some way to cause problems. Whether that was freezing the conveyor belts, icing all the floors, or hiding the naughty and nice list in a pile of snow, he was always ruining something. Bernard hated having to deal with him, but as Head Elf it was one of his jobs. Which meant it was his job to chase an escaped Comet all the way to the outskirts of Elfsburg. At least he had good company though.

The three elves moved on, heading towards the icy mountains that surrounded their small home. Bernard was really hoping Comet hadn't decided to roam around there, the mountains were made of almost solid ice so they could be really dangerous if you didn't watch where you were going, but they were running out of places to look. They all called out his name as they walked, their voices ringing through the air like a mix-match of bells and gongs. Judy even yelled about having Comet's favorite candy in her bag, but, there was still no answer.

"Oh, you don't think he's hurt, do you?" She asked, worrying her bottom lip.

"No, Comet's smart. He wouldn't have done anything dangerous when he ran off. He's probably stopped somewhere to nap or eat and just can't hear us." Quentin said, patting her shoulder reassuringly.

Bernard scanned the area. He hoped his friend was right. Comet was Santa's lead reindeer, it would not be good if he got hurt. And if he was hurt, Bernard would make sure Jack Frost never stepped foot in the North Pole again.

Something caught his eye just then, a discoloration in the snow. He walked forward and was relieved to see a trail of dirty hoof prints. The first bunch were clustered together, like Comet had had a little trouble landing in the snow, but the rest made a neat path northeast of them. Bernard smiled.

"He's this way!" He called.

They spent another hour following the tracks, taking turns calling out to their reindeer friend. Bernard couldn't wait to find Comet and get back inside. The tips of his pointed ears were going numb from the cold and, he swiped his sleeve across his face, _gross_ his nose was running_. _

"Comet!" Judy yelled. They all froze when a deep gibberish answered. Comet peeked his head out from behind a snowflake dusted bush. The three elves cheered and ran forward. Comet whined something at them in his animal-speak, but Bernard couldn't hear it over the _crunch, crunching _of their boots as they bumbled through the shin deep snow. Comet shook his head at them and then promptly turned around and flew off in the direction of the workshop. Bernard's jaw dropped open in disbelief. He stopped in his tracks, causing Quentin and Judy to slam into him. He stumbled forward.

"Jingle bells!" He yelped, just barely righting himself before he went face first into the snow.

"Sorry, Mate," Quentin said distractedly. He was watching Comet fly off. "Well, isn't that rude. He could have at least waited for us. We _did_ spend half the day looking for him."

"Maybe he thought he was in trouble?" Judy guessed.

"Maybe," Bernard sighed. He pulled his green velvet cap down lower over his chilled ears and tucked his chin into the warmth of his knit scarf. "Let's just head back. I'm freezing."

Quentin and Judy nodded their heads in agreement and the three of them started walking back towards the center of town. They'd only made it a few steps when an unnatural blast of frigid winter air blew through them.

"Now, what are you three little elves doing all the way out here? Skiving off work?" Said a slippery male voice. "And aren't you the Head Elf? That's not setting a very good example now, is it?"

Jack Frost appeared before them, with a mischievous grin on his pale face. His blue, frost covered hair glimmered in the sunlight that shimmered down through the ice above. His cerulean pinstriped suit was neatly pressed and the ice along his shoulders and tie clung to the fabric like sequins did to webs of hot glue. Jack ran a hand down his side absentmindedly, smoothing an unseen wrinkle.

"We're not ditching work. We came out here looking for Comet," Bernard growled.

"Oh? Is he missing?" The legendary figure asked in a concerned tone, though it was not at all convincing.

"Don't play dumb, you know he's been missing all day! You're the one who let him out!" Bernard accused.

"Really? Do you have proof that I did that?"

Bernard opened his mouth to respond, but could think of nothing. _Technically, _he didn't have any actual proof that Frost was the one to let Comet out, just Larry's word that he had seen him and the ice near Comet's pen. That definitely wasn't enough to turn Frost in to Santa and the other council members. Frost's grin turned into a sneer.

"Didn't think so. You know, it isn't nice to go around accusing people of things." Jack placed his hands on his hips and sighed deeply. "I guess you three will just have to stay here until you learn not to go around jumping to conclusions."

Bernard shared a confused look with Quentin and Judy.

"What the heck are you talking about, Fro—"

Jack inhaled quickly and deeply, his face turning a dark frightening shade of blue. Bernard felt the air around them drop several degrees and then the next thing he knew, Jack was blowing a blast of wintry magic at them. They cried out at the freezing wind whipping around. Bernard and Quentin huddled around Judy, trying to protect her from the worst of it. Bernard heard the distinct crackling of ice encasing them. He looked up just in time to see Frost grinning at him, a look of devilish mischief gleaming in his blue eyes, before the ice closed around them, trapping the three elves inside.

"Have fun in there!" Bernard heard Jack's muffled voice call to them, before the legendary figure disappeared with a laugh and a shower of snow and ice.

* * *

Curtis huffed in annoyance and swiped at the sweat beading along his forehead with the back of his hand. He was currently crouched in front of one of the giant ovens in the kitchens of Santa's Workshop, trying desperately to pry its door open. A little over an hour ago, he'd received a complaint about the appliance not working. Curtis had thought that maybe the pilot light was out, or one of the knobs was broken. Instead he'd walked into the kitchen to find a group of elves standing around an oven whose doors were sealed shut by ice.

He'd tried cranking the temperature and melting it, forcing it open with a crowbar, and he even briefly considered getting the Research and Development elves to use their flamethrowers on it, though the thought of Bernard's shouting when he found out what he did stopped him. Nothing had worked.

The kitchen elves said this was Jack Frost's doing, which made sense because who else would bother doing something as childish as playing a prank with the oven doors. He supposed he could just hunt down the Legendary Figure and demand he get rid of the ice, but Curtis had never been able to get Frost to listen to him. Even Bernard hadn't managed that yet.

"Curtis, is it fixed yet?"

Curtis pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and turned around to see who had spoken to him. Abby stood behind him, clutching an empty silver tray. The crown she normally wore on her head was a little askew and she had a smudge of flour across her left cheek.

"Does it look like it's fixed yet?" He asked her. She pinned him with a glare. Curtis wondered if she was debating on whacking him with the tray.

"Well, can you please hurry up? The kitchens had a ton of orders this afternoon from the second shift elves who wanted cookies for their lunch break and with the oven doors frozen shut we're totally behind schedule."

Curtis rolled his eyes and turned back to the frozen oven he'd been working on.

"I'm going as fast as I can. This is _magic_ ice. It doesn't just disappear, you know." He pulled a hammer and chisel from the tool belt around his waist and started chipping away at the ice. "Can't you just use a different oven? We've got like twenty."

"They're all being used!" Abby said with a frustrated groan as she set the tray onto the counter behind her. "I asked you earlier to send a memo to have one reserved so we could make the cookie orders, but everyone I asked about it said they hadn't heard from you."

Curtis paused in his hammering to give Abby a sheepish smile over his shoulder.

"Oh... right. I may have forgotten to do that," he chuckled weakly. Abby's face fell into her hands.

"Of course you forgot," she muttered. "Where's Bernard? I bet he could convince one of the other kitchen elves to share the ovens with me."

Curtis frowned and started working on the frozen door again. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him all day. Last I heard he was dealing with some sort of hullabaloo down at the stables, but that was hours ago."

"I guess I'll head down there and look for him, maybe someone knows where he went," Abby sighed.

"Oh, I wouldn't bother doing that," said a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Jack Frost leaning casually against the door frame, a sly glint in his eyes.

"Why?" Curtis asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Because, he's not at the stables anymore."

"Then where is he?"

Jack Frost just shrugged and started examining his nails.

"If you know where he is, you should tell us," Abby demanded, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"And why should I do that?" Jack said in an extremely bored voice.

"Because, we all know you froze the oven!"

"I did no such thing," he said with obvious feigned innocence.

"The elves saw you leaving the kitchens, Frost," Curtis huffed as he got to his feet.

"That still doesn't mean that I was the one to freeze the ovens, and even if I was I'm sure it would have been a complete accident."

Abby and Curtis both rolled their eyes at Jacks poor acting.

"Look, it's obvious you're not going to fix it. So we need Bernard's help in here so I can get my work done. And since you're not going to get rid of that stupid ice, you should at least tell us where he is."

Frost studied them for a long moment,

"Tell you what, how about I give you all a little clue?"

"A _clue_?"

"Yes," Jack walked forward and leaned down so he was eye level with them. He cupped his right hand around his mouth like he was whispering a secret. "He's somewhere very cold."

"What? That's not a clue! He could be anywhere!" Curtis argued. Jack just cackled at their disbelieving faces and then disappeared in a swirl of winter magic.

Curtis and Abby stared at each other.

"Why do I have a bad feeling now?" Curtis gulped.

* * *

"We've been in here for _hours, _I don't think Frost is coming back_." _Quentin said. Bernard looked over at him and Judy. They were huddled close together, Quentin's arm wrapped tightly around Judy's shoulder to protect her from the cold. They had Bernard's long red and black knit scarf wrapped around their necks. He'd given it up to them about an hour ago when he saw them shivering. It wasn't much, but he hoped they were a little warmer.

"Can you teleport out Bernard?" Judy asked. Bernard shook his head.

"No, I already tried. I don't think my Christmas Magic can get through ice made by a Legendary Figure."

"So, we're stuck out here in the cold?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Santa or someone will find us soon," Quentin tried to sound reassuring, but Bernard could hear the worry hidden in his best friend's voice. The elves might live in the North Pole, but the frigid temperatures could still get to them if they weren't careful. Bernard was freezing too. He'd hoped Curtis or someone would have come looking for them by now. He told the stable elves he was going looking for Comet, so he'd thought when the reindeer returned without them someone would have realized something was amiss.

_Unless they think we went straight back to the workshop. _That wouldn't really be all that surprising. Bernard almost never left the workshop, unless Santa or Mrs. Claus demanded he go get some rest. There was always too much work that needed to be done.

He saw Judy shivering, though the younger elf seemed to be trying to hide it. Bernard turned around and placed his mittened hands on the icy wall behind him. They couldn't stay out here forever. The sun may be out all the time during summer at the Pole, but it did nothing to warm their home, especially underneath the thick ice that kept them hidden from the world. Years ago, Bernard had made rules against the elves staying out for too long without the proper protection, like thick lumpy sweaters and scarves and plenty of hot cocoa. Their magic kept them warm enough, but he'd much rather everyone be safe rather than sorry.

"Bernard..." Quentin whispered. The head elf looked back at his friend. A dark cloud of worry was storming in the shorter elf's eyes. Bernard averted his gaze.

His job was to keep the elves safe and happy and working hard. It had been for a very long time and he prided himself on how well he'd been able to do it all these years. So, wasn't this just another moment where he needed to do his job and keep Judy and Quentin safe?

He glanced back at his friends again. If they stayed out here in the cold for much longer, they could end up sick or worse. He couldn't wait around for Santa or Curtis to find them or for Jack Frost to grow a conscious and let them out. Bernard took a deep breath and then slid his wool mittens off his hands. He stuffed them into his coat pocket and then placed his bare hands against the ice.

"_Bernard," _Quentin said, a little suspicious this time.

"What are you doing?" Judy asked. Bernard ignored them.

Magic was a funny thing. Even with Jack long gone, Bernard could still feel the tingling of his energy running through the ice, like bees buzzing in a hive. It clung to the water molecules, keeping them hooked to one another and stopping the ice from melting for a very long time, or for as long as Jack wanted. Christmas magic was a lot like Winter magic in this way, except it came from deep inside a person's heart. It blossomed in the warmth of someone's dreams and joy and their belief in the unbelievable. Winter magic, on the other hand, left you numb and cold and with a void inside you that you were always trying to fill.

The elves were _not_ supposed to use Winter magic, _ever._ They needed to feel joy and happiness to stay young and full of the energy they needed to help people. That's why they used Christmas magic and helped Santa make toys for children all over the world.

They weren't supposed to use it, but that didn't mean Bernard didn't know how.

He emptied his mind of all the things he usually worried about; deadlines, production issues, what they were serving in the kitchens that day, and instead focused on chillier thoughts. He thought about fresh snow, frozen lakes, frosty ice capped mountains, and icicles hanging above a doorway. Bernard shivered as the cold from the ice seeped into his fingers, numbing them to the point where he couldn't feel them pressed against the ice. He almost pulled back when he saw them turn a deep shade of blue, but he shoved his concern away and pictured what he wanted most, the ice cracking open and letting them out. There was nothing for a moment, and then the next thing he heard was the crumbling of the ice as it broke apart and finally he could see the field they'd been standing in before Jack had showed up. Quentin and Judy jumped to their feet, stumbling a little because the were both still wrapped in Bernard's scarf.

"H-how did you do that?" Judy wondered in amazement. Quentin was hurriedly pulling himself free of the knitwear, panic making his breath come in short gasps.

"Bernard," he said, reaching for his friend's arm, "Mate, tell me you're okay."

Bernard didn't answer. He was too busy clutching his hands to his chest. His fingers burned from the cold, like he'd spent the entire day with them submerged in freezing water. He breathed on them, hoping dismally that it might bring some sort of warmth back. Quentin took his hands in his and studied the still blue fingertips. Without speaking, he reached inside Bernard's coat pocket and pulled out the mittens. He carefully shoved them back onto the taller boy's hands and then hooked his arm around his shoulder.

"Come on then, let's get inside where it's warm."

Judy stepped forward and linked her arm with Bernard's. The three of them set off south towards the workshop as quickly as they could.

* * *

Out from behind the now broken ice block stepped Jack Frost. He studied the remains of his latest trick and then looked out towards the retreating backs of Santa's elves.

"Now... how did you learn to do that?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 everybody! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. I really appreciate it! By the way, did I mention this story takes place after the second movie but before the third, because I think I may have forgotten to. If you like this chapter, let me know what you thought! Well, I won't keep you, on to reading! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize from The Santa Clause movies.**

**Updated 03/10/2020; errors fixed.**

If there was one thing Bernard was known for, besides his temper, it was his punctuality. Never in all his years at the workshop had he been even a second late for work, excluding his brief time under house arrest, but no one counted that. Not even Santa could match his attendance record, and the big guy lived in the building. The elves all trusted that every morning Bernard would be at the front doors, keys in hand, waiting to let them in. They'd greet him cheerily, he'd grumble a hello, and the day would begin.

So it was quite a shock to find the workshop doors locked and no sign of the head elf whatsoever. The crowd of elves, mostly kitchen and maintenance workers who needed to get the machines and ovens up and running before the rest of the elves arrived, stood staring helplessly at the locked building. A few of them checked their watches in case they'd gotten the time wrong, but no, it was six am. Time to work.

"Should... should someone go check on him?" A maintenance elf with vibrant red curls tied up in pig tails said. She tugged anxiously at a loose thread on her dark green and gold cardigan.

"I say we just wait a little. He probably just overslept," yawned another elf.

"But Bernard never oversleeps," argued a third, " I'm with Patty. I think someone should go check on him."

There was a quick murmuring of agreement before the crowd fell silent again.

"Who... who's gonna do it?" One of the younger elves with short black hair asked. They stared at each other, waiting for someone to volunteer.

"What's with the gathering? You lot having a meeting or something?" A sleepy voice asked. The group turned as one to see Quentin walking towards them, cap in hand and long hair tied back in a messy braid. He stopped when he noticed their stares. "Is... is something the matter?"

"Bernard's not here," Patty explained.

"He's not?" Quentin looked around the town square as if expecting to see Bernard hiding in a corner somewhere. "Well, where is he then?"

The other elves answered with shrugs and mumbled "don't knows." There was a quick staring match as the elves waited for Quentin to tell them what to do. He was their head elf's best friend, after all.

Quentin looked away from them and sighed. Sugar plums, it was too early in the morning for this. He rubbed at his tired eyes with the heels of his hands as he thought.

"Alright, one of you run off and fetch Curtis, he has a spare key. I'll go grab Bernard. Poor man's alarm mustn't've gone off."

Quentin left the group of elves debating who would be the one to go attempt to wake Curtis, who slept like the dead, and headed towards Bernard's apartment. As the Head Elf, his friend's home was right off the town square, that way he'd be near the workshop in case there was ever a problem. It was a small place, built right over a cafe that always somehow managed to smell like they were making the most delicious Christmas dinner. Quentin always thought Bernard was lucky for having his house over such a cute tiny shop. There weren't many in Elfsburg, as most elves worked on the toys for Christmas. The few who didn't had gotten permission from previous Santa's to retire and try their hand at other work. The store's front window usually displayed intricate three-tiered cakes with rich red and green fondant and sweet chocolate pies piled high with whipped topping and candied strawberries. This early in the morning though, the display was bare. Quentin's stomach gave a sad gurgle.

He climbed the rickety stairs on the side of the building that led to his friend's apartment, subconsciously making a mental note of which steps needed repair. He was an elf, after all, he just couldn't help it. When he got to the top he tried the doorknob, not at all surprised to find it unlocked, most buildings in Elfsburg were. Except for Santa's Workshop, and that was only because they wanted to make sure nothing would happen to the children's toys during the night. He stepped quietly into the apartment.

The living room was cozily decorated with an overstuffed maroon couch that was piled with faded frayed pillows, and a thick woven rug. The coffee table, made of a heavy dark wood, was stacked high with files and reports from the workshop. A workbench was crammed into one of the corners and sitting on top of it was what appeared to be the pieces to a snow globe and Bernard's personal set of tools. The rest of the shelf and floor space was crammed with books and knickknacks that his friend had acquired over his many years, like an antique spinning top and an old crystal tree ornament. Quentin ran his hand along a stack of files with the words "Stuffed Animal Department: Inventory Reports" written in the Head Elf's neat script. Bernard sometimes fell asleep on his couch doing the previous days paperwork, but there was no sign of him in this room. Quentin stepped down the tiny hallway towards the home's only bedroom.

He pushed the door open and squinted into the darkness of the room. Heavy velvet curtains blocked almost any light from entering the space, so it took a moment for him to realize the big lump on the mattress was in fact Bernard, and not his over sized comforter. He walked forward, nearly tripping over a pair of pointed boots, until he was standing beside the bed. He could hear the deep, steady breathes of someone still under Sandman's spell. Quentin placed a hand on the lump and gave it a gentle shake.

"Bernard?"

No answer, not even a snore. Quentin shook a little harder.

"Come on Bernard, wake up. _You're late_."

There was some disgruntled muttering, and then the covers were pulled back so tired brown eyes could peer up at him.

"Quentin?" A throaty voice asked, clearly confused.

"Morning," he said with a smile.

Bernard pushed the covers down farther so he could look searchingly around the room.

"Where is my alarm clock? What time is it?"

"Well I don't know about your alarm, but," Quentin squinted in the darkness at his watch, "it's almost six thirty in the morning."

Bernard's eyes grew comically wide. He threw the blankets off and then reached forward to grab Quentin's forearm, "Please tell me your joking!"

Quentin wrenched his arm free of the other boys grasp, gasping at the chill that had snaked its way over his skin. "Jingles, Mate, your hand is freezing!"

Bernard stared dumbly at his fingers in the near complete darkness. Quentin stared with him for a moment, before promptly marching over to the window and flinging the curtains open. Both boys groaned at the sudden brightness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when they finally did he walked back over to his friend and carefully picked up his hand.

Quentin couldn't help the small gasp when he saw the deep blue discoloration of Bernard's skin. Yesterday, it had just barely covered his fingertips, but now it reached only about an inch away from his knuckles. Little specks of frost clung to the skin around his fingernails. Quentin glanced up at his best friend's face, before doing a double take. Bernard was pale, with heavy bruises of exhaustion under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Quentin took his hands away from Bernard's so he could place one against the other boy's forehead.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Bernard waved his friend's hand away and then pinned him with a halfhearted glare, "Of course I am."

"Are you lying? I'll get Judy up here if you are. She always knows when something's wrong with someone."

Bernard rolled his eyes and then finally stood to start gathering a fresh change of clothes, "No, I'm not lying. I'm just tired... and a little cold."

"I told you, we should've go to the Elfirmary last night."

"I don't need to go to the Elfirmary. I told _you_ yesterday, this should go away on its own." Bernard motioned for Quentin to give him some space to get dressed, so the shorter boy left the bedroom and headed back towards the living room. He wanted to believe his friend, Bernard _was_ one of the only elves to know anything about Winter magic, but he couldn't help worrying. He looked about ten times worse than he had yesterday. Quentin's gut told him they should tell a doctor or Santa or someone.

Bernard stepped out of the bedroom, tugging on his favorite green cap as he walked. He pulled out a pair of black suede gloves from his pants pocket and slipped them on, fumbling for a moment because his fingers were too numb.

"You don't think anyone's going to be curious about why your wearing gloves?" Quentin pointed out. Bernard just shrugged.

"If they ask I'll just tell them the truth." Quentin gaped at him. Bernard rolled his eyes. "_That I'm cold._"

They both left the apartment and headed slowly down the creaking staircase. Quentin noticed how Bernard was walking a little slower, like he was already getting tired from moving around so much. He made a note to watch his friend a little more closely today.

"So, am I right to assume everyone's just waitin' in front of the doors for me?" Bernard asked when they reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Hmm... I told them to go try and wake Curtis since he has a copy of the keys." Bernard pinned him with a look. Quentin stared back for a moment before finally letting out a snort of laughter. "Yep, they're probably still waiting."

* * *

Bernard stopped next to the Research and Development departments trash can, wondering if he was about to be sick for the third time that day. Quentin had graciously offered him the room after watching him bolt to the bathroom when one of the kitchen elves offered him some fresh baked sugar cookies, as long as he promised to clean up after himself. He'd said he figured Bernard would want some privacy, so as the Head of the department, Quentin had told all the other elves to check on upgrades that needed to be made to the rest of the workshop's equipment. This ensured that Bernard would have a quiet place alone to be ill in, which was good because Curtis had been stuck to his side since that morning pestering him with questions about Jack Frost and what had happened at the stables. If Curtis saw him getting sick, he would definitely tell Santa, and Santa would definitely make him go home or to the Elfirmary.

Bernard didn't want to do either of those things. All he wanted was to get his work done, find something to eat he could keep down, and get rid of this stupid headache he had pounding behind his eyes.

Oh, and maybe find a nice warm fireplace to plop down in front of.

Bernard shivered. He felt almost as cold as he had yesterday when he'd been traipsing around the snowfields looking for Comet. His hands were stiff and numb, even in his warm gloves. It was getting hard to carry things. He'd already dropped a box of red paint he was trying to deliver to the elves working on the toy fire trucks. That mess had been awful, and if the chemically smell hadn't sent his stomach rolling, he would have stayed to help the maintenance elves clean up.

Bernard stepped away from the trash can, relieved he hadn't gotten sick. He walked slowly over to Quentin's desk and collapsed into the chair. He was exhausted, had been since last night. If Quentin hadn't come to get him this morning, he probably would have slept all day.

There was a quiet knock on the door. Bernard considered not answering, but then he wondered who would be knocking instead of just coming in.

"Yeah?" He said hoarsely. His throat was starting to hurt, too.

The door opened and a smiling face framed by long brown hair that was adorned with a tall purple princess hat peered into the room. Judy's mouth turned down into a concerned frown when she spotted Bernard. She pushed the door the rest of the way open with her hip and then walked towards him carrying a large silver tray heavily ladened with a pot of fresh cocoa, sandwiches, and two individual sized chocolate cakes topped with chocolate whipped cream and sticky maraschino cherries.

Bernard swallowed roughly and looked away.

"There you are! Quentin said you might be hiding in here today."

"M'not hiding," Bernard muttered.

"He said you weren't feeling the best, so I thought I'd bring you in some lunch. Some nice hot cocoa and good food ought to help."

Bernard wished that was the case. Judy's cocoa usually made him feel better whenever he was feeling a little overworked, but right now the smell of it made him want to run to the trash can again.

"I appreciate the thought, Judy, but maybe not right now."

Judy frowned again and set the tray on Quentin's desk. She walked around it to stand next to him and then reached up to place her hand against his forehead.

Judy snatched her hand away almost immediately, "Silver bells, Bernard, your skin is like ice!"

Bernard winced at her raised voice. "I know, I know."

"Maybe we should take you to the doctor. Did you get sick from being out in the cold all day yesterday?" Judy asked, reaching over to pour her friend some cocoa. Bernard shook his head, his headache flaring up at the small movement.

"No, and I'm fine, I don't need a doctor."

Judy set the drink in front of him. She looked at him worriedly. "Well, let's at least tell Santa—"

"No! No, Santa!" Bernard interrupted. Judy stared at him wide eyed. "Sorry, I just... there's a lot of work to do today. Santa will make me go home if he hears I'm sick."

"Fine," she sighed disapprovingly, "but I want you to drink this cocoa and _try_ to eat. And I'll see if Abby can hunt you down a blanket or something. We need to get you warmed up."

* * *

Bernard collapsed onto his side on his bed, breath coming in shallow gasps. It had taken way more energy than necessary to make it through the rest of the day. Even climbing the stairway to his apartment had exhausted him. Under Judy's watchful eye, he'd tried to eat something, but a few sips of cocoa and a bite of sandwich was all he could do. He didn't understand, he'd never felt this sick before, not once in his very long life. And yes, it had been centuries since he last even thought about using Winter magic, but it'd never made him this ill before.

Bernard rolled over onto his back. He lifted his hands up and tried pulling off the gloves he'd worn all day. It was hard since his fingers were so stiff and numb. After a few minutes that amounted to nothing more than aggravating himself, Bernard finally just pulled the gloves off with his teeth. He stared in shock at his fingers in the lamplight of his bedroom. Both his hands were completely blue, the color dancing around the edge of his wrists. Frost clung to his fingernails and folded itself into the creases on his fingers. He rolled back onto his side and brought his hand up close to his chest to blow warm air on them.

_Think of warm things. _He reminded himself. Hot cocoa, roaring fireplaces, knit scarves that were so big they covered your neck and face, freshly dried blankets, none of these thoughts brought him any warmth. Bernard curled himself into a ball and pulled his covers all the way up over his head.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" he whispered into the silence of the room.

His only answer was a chill spreading from his hands, up his arms, and across his chest.

* * *

"Second day in a row, the elves are starting to worry," Quentin called out as he let himself into Bernard's home. There was no answer. He spared a glance around the living room just to double check Bernard hadn't fallen asleep at the couch or worktable and then walked straight back to the bedroom. He found his friend the same as yesterday, as a still fast asleep lump buried underneath his blanket. Quentin moved over to shake him awake. It took a few tries, but finally Bernard started to stir, letting out a few hacking coughs as he pushed the covers away from his face.

"Jingle bells," Quentin whispered. Bernard stared up at his friend with dull, tired eyes. He looked completely miserable. Quentin reached forward to place his hand against the sick elf's forehead. The skin still felt like ice. "How're your hands?"

Bernard slowly removed his arms from the tangle of his comforter. The strange blue color had now crawled about halfway up his forearms.

"It's not getting better," he mumbled hoarsely.

Quentin sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed beside his friend, "I think it's time we took you to a doctor."

Bernard looked like he wanted to argue, but at that moment his body was racked by a horrible fit of coughs. It took a few moments before he could finally speak again, "I... I think you might be right."

* * *

Scott Calvin, or Santa Claus as he was known to all of the elves, had learned over the past eight years that there was one thing for certain in life and that was life was full of surprises. From the moment he put on the Santa suit and he and his son Charlie spent the night delivering gifts to the children of the world, he had been faced with surprise after surprise. He was lucky though, he had a lot of great people he could always count on to help him out. His beautiful wife Carol, Laura, Neil, the other Legendary figures, his elves of course; they were all there when he needed them. So he tried to always be there when they needed _him_ too. Which was why, when Curtis came busting into his office at 7am that morning to let him know Bernard was in the Elfirmary, Scott took off to be by his Head Elf's side.

Bernard had never gotten sick, at least not in all the time Scott had know him. Yes, the guy had a tendency to overwork himself, but that was it. And usually with a good stern talking to by one of his friends, they could get the overambitious elf to relax, at least for a little while. When Scott arrived to the small doctors office at the opposite end of the town square, he wasn't at all surprised to see Quentin and Judy already sitting by Bernard's bedside. He squeezed in beside them, mumbling an apology when his big belly bumped into Judy and almost knocked her off her chair.

"Have we heard anything from the doctor yet?" he asked them. Judy shook her head no.

"Dr. Hismus is still trying to figure out what's wrong. He said he'll let us know as soon as he does."

Scott sighed, "Do either of you two know what might be going on? Did he eat something that didn't agree with him? Is this some kind of elf sickness that I haven't heard about?"

"No, I don't think it's anything like that," Judy said as she smoothed out the thick covers lying over their friend, "I thought maybe he caught a cold or something from all that time we spent outside the other day, but this is definitely not a cold."

"You were outside?" Scott asked.

"Yes, Santa, to try and find Comet. Didn't Bernard let you know he got out?"

"No," Scott said frowning, "I didn't hear anything about it."

"Huh... Bernard usually never forgets to let you know something." Judy mumbled.

Scott turned to Quentin, who had been unusually quiet, "What about you Quentin. Do you have any idea what could be wrong?"

They watched for a few moments as the normally talkative elf picked anxiously at his nails, not a word leaving his lips. He seemed to be debating something in his mind, but what Scott had no idea. There was a few more seconds of awkward silence before the resident Legendary Figure finally cleared his throat.

"Hey, buddy, did you hear me?"

Quentin jumped a little at the sound of Santa's voice. He turned to meet the taller man's gaze and Scott saw something flash in the shorter boy's eyes, like a decision had finally been made within himself.

"I... I don't know. This all just sort of... came out of nowhere."

Scott was suddenly under the impression that Quentin was lying, but he couldn't imagine why the elf would be lying about Bernard's illness. The two of them were best friends, it made no sense for him to hide information that may help the Head Elf recover. Scott considered pressing for more information, but then decided he didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the Elfirmary. Bernard needed his rest, he could talk to Quentin about it later.

Scott spent another half hour with Bernard, long enough to see the doctor and let him know to send word if anything changed with the sickly elf. He wanted to stay to make sure his friend was all right, but Scott knew it would drive Bernard crazy if Santa Claus ignored the workshop's needs just to sit by his bedside. He made his rounds, checking on the progress of the toys and making some suggestions to the elves who were having a little trouble. Some of them asked about Bernard, but Scott didn't want them to worry too much, so he told them all the Head Elf was resting and would hopefully be better soon. Curtis pulled him aside around lunchtime, a look of worry on his face.

"Okay, Santa, how is he really?" the number two elf said, clutching the handbook tightly.

Scott sighed and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly, "Honestly? We're not sure yet. The doctor doesn't even know what's wrong."

Curtis stared at the ground, "He will get better though, right?"

"Of course he will! C'mon Curtis, this is Bernard we're talking about. They guy's made of some tough stuff." Curtis looked into Scott's eyes. It was obvious he wasn't convinced. "He'll be fine. Once Dr. Hismus finds out what's wrong, Bernard will be back on his feet in no time. I promise."

This seemed to satisfy Curtis for the moment, because he smiled and then excused himself to go take care of some issues in the wrapping department. Scott watched him go, wishing he could so easily convince himself that everything would be okay. Maybe if it wasn't Bernard, who always seemed like nothing could touch him, he wouldn't be so worried. Or maybe he still would be. Being Santa all these years had given him a much more softer side.

"_I _know what's wrong with your little elf," said a smug voice from behind. Scott turned to see Jack Frost leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a devilish grin stretched across his face.

"Wow, Jack, we normally don't see you here twice in one week."

Jack shrugged, "There's normally nothing this interesting going on around here."

"Alright, I'll bite. What do you think is going on with Bernard?" Scott sighed.

"Oh, no, no, no" Jack said, pushing away from the wall and slinking over to stand by Santa's side, "Not think, _know._ Your little elf has been doing some very naughty things."

"Oh? Like what?" said Scott, disbelievingly.

"Like performing forbidden magic."

"_Forbidden magic?_" he couldn't help but scoff. "What forbidden magic? And you know what, even if there was such a thing, Bernard would never do that."

"He did, Santa. I saw him with my own eyes. Your little elf did Winter magic, and little elves are _not_ allowed to cast Winter magic."

"Oh, come on. You're being ridiculous."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You know what, I don't have time for this." Scott turned to walk away.

"I'm just trying to let you know what's going on in your workshop, Santa!" Frost called.

"Yeah, yeah..." Scott muttered.

"Santa!"

Scott ignored him and started walking towards the staircase that would lead him to the naughty and nice center.

"Santa, stop," a voice ordered. Scott turned around to see Mother Nature standing beside Jack Frost. She looked upset. "I don't mean to be so demanding but we need to talk, now."

Scott shared a look with Jack, who actually did seem surprised to find Mother Nature suddenly next to him.

"Okay... About what?" he asked.

"Bernard," she answered solemnly. "And the forbidden magic he performed two days ago."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, look, it's chapter 3! Thank you to everyone who reviewed or read this story. You guys are awesome! Let me know what you think of this chapter if you'd like. I'll see you soon with Chapter 4!**

"I just don't understand what the big deal is. The elves use magic all the time. _I_ use magic," Scott argued as he, Mother Nature, and Jack Frost headed across the town square towards the Elfirmary. Mother Nature had insisted on sitting down with Santa and Bernard to discuss the Head Elf's use of Winter magic. Jack had followed them, saying he was a key witness and that it was imperative that he be there.

"I told you, Santa, we can discuss this in a moment-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Scott gently grabbed Mother Nature's shoulder to get her to stop. He let go when she finally turned to face him. "Look, Bernard's sick. I don't want us to just bust in there and start accusing him."

"No, of course not," She agreed.

"Okay. Then let's just take a second to talk about what's going on."

Mother Nature sighed, "Two days ago I was in the southwest United States, creating the most beautiful sunny day by the way, when I felt this... disturbance. I looked into it and discovered that one of your elves had been using Winter magic, which is against the rules."

"Why exactly is it against the rules?" Scott asked.

"Because it's dangerous. Winter magic isn't exactly... stable. The only beings allowed to use it are myself and Jack."

"It's not _stable_?"

"No," Mother Nature turned and started walking towards the Elfirmary again, but at a much slower pace this time. "You see, all magic comes from a part of you. The magic you and your elves use, Christmas magic, comes from the happiness you bring to people and the joy you feel in your heart. Cupid's magic comes from his desire for everyone to feel loved, and Sandman's is from the sense of wonder people have when they dream. If you don't feel these things, your magic disappears."

"Okay... but what does that have to do with Winter magic?"

"Winter magic doesn't exist because of something you have, it exists because of what it takes. It feeds off of every warm feeling you have in your heart until-"

"Until your heart is frozen." Jack interrupted. He smirked at them. "But it's not so bad, trust me. I think having a frozen heart helps put things in perspective. You care more about the things that matter to _you_, without being weighed down by all that useless guilt."

Mother Nature rolled her eyes, "_Anyway_, once your heart is completely frozen, there's no fixing it. So, to protect us Legendary Figures and the other magical beings in the world, one of the past Mother Natures made it against the rules for anyone but a Mother Nature or Jack Frost to use Winter magic."

They stopped outside the Elfirmary door. Scott mulled over her words.

"I understand where you're coming from with all this, but I know Bernard. He wouldn't have done anything he wasn't supposed to do unless he thought he had to."

"I know you trust him, Santa. I do too. He's always been a great Head Elf. I just want to talk to him, see exactly _why_ he did what he did." Mother nature smiled reassuringly.

"You don't really need to do that. I told you, I saw the whole thing," Jack said. Scott couldn't help but notice the other man's sudden nervous energy.

"I am nothing if not fair. Bernard deserves to give us his side of the story before any decision is made."

At that, Mother Nature opened the door to the building and swept inside. Scott followed her, Jack frost right at his heels. He was expecting to see Bernard still sound asleep in the hospital bed, but instead his friend was sitting up, several blankets laying across his lap . He was wearing a thick blue knit sweater and warm-looking wool mittens. His face was still pale and the circles underneath his eyes were as dark as ever. Curtis was sitting beside him, a clipboard in hand. They seemed to be going over that days progress in the workshop. Both boys looked up at the sound of the door swinging open. Curtis looked surprised to see the other Legendary Figures, but Bernard just stared up at them with tired, resigned eyes.

"Curtis, you mind giving us a moment alone with Bernard?" Scott asked. Curtis nodded.

"Sure thing, Sir. See you later, Bernard." Curtis waved goodbye to his friend and then left. Scott offered Mother Nature Curtis's abandoned seat. She took it, giving Bernard a calm smile.

"Hi there, Bernard, mind if we talk?" she asked. He nodded at her.

"It has come to my attention that two days ago, you performed Winter magic," she began. Bernard looked away from her and down at his lap, fidgeting with the edge of his blankets. "I know you are aware that Winter magic is forbidden to everyone besides myself and Jack Frost. I know you know how dangerous it is. So... I thought maybe we could talk about why you used it."

There was silence for a moment, and then Bernard finally whispered, "I... thought I had to."

Scott almost winced at the rough, weak quality to his friend's voice. It was so far from how he usually sounded, which was loud and commanding. Scott asked him, "What do you mean 'had to?'"

"Quentin, Judy, and I were out looking for Comet the other day because _someone_ let him out," Bernard said finally looking up at them, "After we found him we tried heading back to the workshop, but Jack Frost showed up and trapped us in a block of ice."

"He _what?_" Mother Nature said turning an angry glare towards the Legendary Figure.

"O-oh come on... I-I would never do something like that," Jack spluttered. He smoothed the front of his jacket nervously.

"_Jack_." Mother Nature warned.

"Ugh, _fine, _I did it," Frost sighed. Scott threw his hands up in the air in anger and disbelief, "but I was only playing around. They were never in any real danger!"

"_We_ didn't know that. I thought he'd left us out there to freeze. I was worried for Quentin and Judy! I swear, if I hadn't thought it was the only way to keep them safe I never would have used Winter magic."

Mother Nature nodded. She leveled Frost with another look and then turned to smile at Bernard, "Well, in light of these circumstances, I think we can just let you off with a warning. But, please remember that Winter magic is very dangerous, especially to you elves."

"I know," he whispered.

"A warning? That's it? He broke a major rule, don't you think he ought to receive a more serious punishment than being given a _warning?_" Jack huffed.

"The only person getting a serious punishment around here is you, Jack," Mother Nature said icily.

"Me? What did I do?"

"You _froze_ my elves!" Scott snapped at him.

Jack waved his hands dismissively, "I already said that was nothing more than a harmless prank. It's not my fault your elves can't take a joke."

"Jack," Scott growled.

"Enough," Mother Nature said. "Jack, I think it's time for you to leave the North Pole. We'll discuss this little prank of yours again at the next council meeting."

Frost scoffed at them and then, without another word, disappeared in a flurry of snow and sparkles. Scott shook his head, stepping closer to Bernard's bed.

"You know, I wish you'd told me about all this two days ago." he said.

"I thought I had it handled. Sorry, Santa." Bernard mumbled.

"Where did you learn Winter magic anyway, Bernard. If you don't mind me asking," Mother Nature asked, looking at the elf curiously.

Bernard stared at his mitted hands. A strange expression passed over his face, but it was gone a moment later, so Scott ignored it.

"It... it was a long time ago. Honestly, it doesn't even matter. I really do promise not to do it again, though."

"Alright..." Mother Nature smiled, though it was obvious she still wanted an answer. She stood from her seat. "Well then, I guess I'll be going now."

"Um... actually. Would you mind taking a look at this?" Bernard asked, holding up his hands. Scott and Mother Nature exchanged looks, and then she reached forward and pulled off the wool mittens. Scott couldn't help gasping when he saw the dark blue discoloration and the frost covering his Head Elf's skin. Mother Nature gaped at him, and then threw the mittens down on the bed so she could push the elf's sweater sleeves up higher on his arms.

"Oh, Bernard..." she whispered. The strange blue color climbed almost up to his elbows and his forearms were covered in patches of ice. It reminded Scott of freezer burn.

Mother Nature sat back down and motioned for Bernard to hold his arms out in front of her. She held her hands, facing down, a few inches above his and closed her eyes. Scott watched, amazed to see a small ball of light, like a tiny sun, form beneath her palms. Its warmth danced across the room, making Scott feel just a little too hot in his long-sleeved red shirt. They waited a few minutes, and then Mother Nature took her hands away, a concerned frown on her face.

"I don't understand. It's not working," she muttered.

"It keeps spreading." Bernard said, bringing his hands up to his mouth to warm them with his breath.

"What is it?" Scott asked.

"A side effect of the Winter Magic," Mother Nature answered. She picked up the mittens and handed them to Bernard. "I don't know why that didn't work, but until I can find another solution, I need you to try and stay as warm as possible. I don't care if that means you have to walk around wearing ten different layers. You _have_ to stay warm."

"Should he maybe stay at the Elfirmary until you find out what to do?" Scott asked.

"No!" Bernard argued. Scott gave him a stern look.

"You're sick, Bernard."

"I know that," the Head Elf implored, "but I have way to much work to do. I can't just sit in this bed when I'm needed at the workshop. Please? I promise not to over do it."

Scott shared a look with Mother Nature. She shrugged. He sighed, "Fine, but if you get any worse you're coming right back here. I'm gonna tell Curtis to keep an eye on you for me. Deal?"

"Deal," Bernard agreed.

* * *

"Well, don't you look like something a reindeer ran over," Curtis said, walking into the Research and Development department. Bernard lifted his head off Quentin's desk to pin the shorter boy with a weak glare.

"What do you want, Curtis?"

"Santa said for me to keep an eye on you and notify him if you get any sicker. Can't really do that if you keep avoiding me." Curtis sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the desk.

"Don't you have work to do?"

"Don't you?"

Bernard groaned and let his head fall back onto the pillow of his arms. His body ached something awful from his constant shivering and he was still so nauseous it was almost impossible to eat without getting sick. Also, he had a constant headache pounding behind his eyes, which was made about ten times worse from Curtis's need to follow him around and pester him about how he was feeling. It had been almost a week since Mother Nature had confronted him about using Winter Magic, and yet there had been no sign that she'd found a way to heal his slowly freezing arms. It was getting harder for Bernard to go about his daily business. All he wanted now was to lie in front of a nice, warm fireplace and sleep for a century.

"Can I ask you a question?" Curtis asked. Bernard just grunted, which the shorter elf took as a sound of concession. "Where did you even learn Winter Magic?"

Bernard peeked at him through the mess of dark curls that had fallen into his face. Curtis leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling in thought.

"The handbook says any king of magic besides Christmas magic being taught at the North Pole is against the rules, so you obviously didn't learn it here."

"Sweet sugar plums, what is it with you and that handbook?" Bernard muttered. Curtis ignored him.

"I was just wondering because if you didn't learn it here, you had to learn it somewhere else. So I was thinking that maybe you're so sick because whoever taught it to you, taught you _wrong_. You know what I mean?"

Bernard sat up a little, shaking his head. "No, I don't know what you mean."

"I mean maybe they didn't know what they were doing and _that's_ why Mother Nature can't figure out how to fix you."

Bernard rubbed his tired eyes with the heels of his hands. "They knew exactly what they were doing, Curtis. It's probably just because I'm an elf and elves aren't meant to use it."

"Oh... She is gonna find out how to fix you though. Right?"

Bernard looked at Curtis. The younger elf was fiddling with reindeer buttons on his shirt, avoiding looking Bernard in the eyes. The Head Elf sighed and stood up from his seat. He slowly walked around the desk so he could lean down to be eye level with his number two elf.

"Of course she is. You don't have to worry about that. I'm going to be fine."

* * *

Curtis stepped into Santa's office, nearly tripping over one of the piles of toys near the doorway. He glared as the magical puppets on the other end of the room laughed at him. He never was very fond of those things. Santa was currently seated at his desk, a cup of cocoa in one hand and the blueprints for the new toy race cars in the other. He smiled when he saw Curtis and motioned for the elf to take a seat in the chair opposite him.

"Hey there, Curtis. I just wanted to check in with you, is all."

"Of course, sir. Did you want to know about the workshop or..."

"Bernard." Santa stated.

"Right. Well, I definitely think he's gotten worse, sir. All he's done the past few days is hide in the Research and Development department to sleep. And when he does come out, it's like he has no energy at all. The other elves are starting to notice. They're all pretty worried."

"I was afraid of that." Santa rubbed at his chin in thought. "I've asked Mother Nature to come back. She should be here soon."

"Has she found a way to help Bernard?" Curtis asked hopefully. Santa shook his head.

"Not that I know of, but I think I know something that might help."

Curtis opened his mouth to ask what that was, but at just that moment there was a knock on the door. Santa called for whoever it was to come in. Mother Nature entered, looking extremely worried.

"How's Bernard?" she asked, striding forward.

"Curtis says he's getting worse. I've noticed it too. His energy is pretty much gone, he's barely eating. Plus I heard him telling Quentin the other day that his arms are getting worse too."

Mother Nature sat down into Santa's favorite armchair and let her head fall into her hands. "I just wish I could help him, but I just can't figure out why my magic didn't work. Summer magic is supposed to thaw someone whose been touched by Winter magic, as long as their heart isn't frozen, and Bernard's isn't."

"Could it have something to do with how he used it? Maybe he didn't do it right?"

"Maybe, but he wouldn't tell me how he even knows how to use it in the first place, so I don't know if that's the problem or not."

"Someone taught him." Curtis said. Santa and Mother Nature both stopped their fretting to look over at him in confusion.

"How do you know that, Curtis?" Santa asked.

"He told me."

"Well why didn't he tell us?"

"I don't know," Curtis shrugged. "Though technically he didn't _tell_ me. I kind of guessed and he didn't deny it."

"Who taught him?" Mother Nature asked.

"That I'm not sure about."

"I bet I know who is though," Santa muttered. "Curtis, I need you to go tell Quentin that I need to see him immediately."

"O-okay. But... why?"

"Because, I think Quentin knows more about what's happening then he's letting on."

* * *

Quentin walked down the stairs leading to Santa's office. He figured this moment would be coming, especially since Bernard was getting sicker with each passing day. He'd considered coming to Santa on his own, so he could explain why he lied in the Elfirmary. He was afraid of betraying Bernard's trust though. His best friend obviously hadn't told their boss all the details about how he knew Winter magic, and if Bernard didn't think it was important, then surely it was okay that Quentin was keeping it a secret too. Except... Bernard thought he was going to get better on his own, and that hadn't happened yet. Quentin knew that sometimes, you had to do what you thought was best for the people you cared about, even if they got mad at you. It was time for him to do what was best for Bernard.

He knocked on Santa's door, feeling his nerves rattling inside him like loose change in a piggy bank. Santa's deep voice called for him to enter. Quentin pushed the door open slowly, only a little surprised to see Mother Nature sitting at Santa's desk beside the heavy set man. Quentin crossed the room and sat in the comfortable armchair across from them.

"Curtis said you wanted to see me," he stated slowly.

Santa nodded and folded his hands together on top of some paperwork sitting on his desk. "Look, Quentin. I know you know more about what's going on with Bernard than we do. And I get why you lied when I asked you if you knew what was wrong. You were protecting your friend. But Bernard isn't in trouble for using Winter Magic. We know he was just trying to keep you and Judy safe. So, if you know any thing else that could help Mother Nature, you need to tell us. Bernard won't get better unless you do."

Quentin stared at the wall above Santa's head, mulling over his words.

"Alright," He said, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he was about to do. He turned to Mother Nature. "I'm right to assume you have knowledge of all the past Spirits of Winter, correct?"

"Of course." she said.

"Spirits of what now?" Santa asked.

"The Spirits of Winter. That's what the heralders of the winter season used to be called before Jack Frost. He's just been a Legendary Figure for so long the name just went out of style."

Quentin nodded. "Right. So, that means you know about Tilly."

"Um... no. I'm afraid I don't." Mother Nature said, frowning.

"Perhaps you know her by Matilda?" Quentin suggested. Mother Nature shook her head.

"Sorry. I've never heard of a Spirit of Winter by either of those names. Are you sure you're getting it right?"

"And what's she got to do with Bernard?" Santa interrupted. Quentin sighed.

"No, that's her name. And I'm getting to that, sir. You see, Tilly was the Spirit of Winter nearly two thousand years ago. She wasn't the best Legendary Figure because she was always causing trouble for the Mother Nature at the time, and she could be really stubborn. Once she got an idea in her head, there was no talking her out of it. I don't think she ever really got along with the other Legendary Figures, but... she _really_ loved the elves. She was always playing with us and helping with our work when we needed it. And... she was Bernard's best friend.

"Those two were inseparable for a really long time. I think they'd still be that way, except... Tilly got banished by Mother Nature when it was discovered that she was trying to figure out how to give us elves more magic. That's probably why you've never heard of her. Tilly thought it wasn't fair that our magic relied on how much people believed in us. She thought we should have just as much as you guys. She was actually the one who taught Bernard how to use Winter magic and he told me a while ago that Tilly actually had to heal him the first time he ever used it, because it started to freeze him just like it is now."

"Did he say how she did it?" Mother Nature asked.

"I don't remember exactly, it had something to do with warm thoughts," Quentin said, shrugging, "It's been a long time since he's talked about Tilly. I don't think he really likes to."

"Why not? I thought you said they were friends?" Santa asked.

"They were when she first became the Spirit of Winter, but... all I know is it's been about fifteen hundred years since he's spoken to her. She disappeared after her banishment and Bernard never bothered to find out what happened. He won't tell me why, no matter how much I ask."

Santa let out a low whistle. "Man I can't believe that. Fifteen hundred years?"

"You know we elves live very long lives, Santa. Why are you surprised?" Quentin chuckled.

"Hey, you don't hear someone talking about what it was like over a thousand years ago everyday. Cut me some slack."

"Alright, we obviously need to talk to Bernard again." Mother Nature said, standing up. "If he tells us more about this Tilly person, then maybe I can figure out how to help him."

* * *

Scott followed Mother Nature across the town square and up the small rickety steps that led to Bernard's apartment. The Head Elf had apparently left the workshop early to go home and rest. Scott was at least happy that Bernard seemed to be sticking to his promise to take it easy. They knocked on the front door of his home. It took a moment for the Head Elf to answer. Bernard let them into his home and then without another word shuffled back over to the couch, where he promptly laid back down. The apartment was a little small, if Scott raised his arms his finger would be able to brush the ceiling, and there wasn't really any other place for the Legendary Figures to sit. He offered the stool crammed over in the corner by the worktable to Mother Nature, but she declined. Instead she knelt down near Bernard's head, placing a gentle hand against his forehead.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

"I've been better," the elf rasped. Mother Nature nodded and started absentmindedly smoothing back his curls.

"Quentin told us about Tilly. He said she was the one to teach you Winter magic." she said.

Bernard frowned. "Why'd... why'd he do that?"

"He thought it might help Mother Nature figure out a way to help you." Scott explained.

"It won't. Tilly's been gone a long time."

"We know, but Quentin said she healed you before, when you started to freeze. Do you remember that?" Mother Nature asked. Bernard nodded.

"Do you remember how she did it?" Scott said, moving a little closer so he could push aside a stack of paperwork and sit on the coffee table.

"Kind of... but I already tried it. It didn't work."

"What do you mean?"

"If the Winter magic got too much for me to handle, Tilly would just tell me to think of warm things, and that would chase away the cold. I've been trying that all week, but nothing I think of makes me feel any warmer.

"Think of warm things?" Scott asked. Mother Nature leaned back on her heels and turned to face him.

"It's kind of like what I was trying to do with the Summer magic," she explained to Santa, "you warm yourself up on the inside to stop the Winter magic from freezing you. But I don't understand why none of that is working. Your heart isn't frozen yet, Bernard, so it should work just fine. Are you sure there's nothing else Tilly did to help you?"

"I don't know..." Bernard looked pained. "It was a long time ago. Look, I appreciate all the effort you're putting in to help me, but I'd really prefer not to talk about Tilly anymore."

"But Bernard-"

"No, please. I just... I just don't like talking about her."

Scott sighed. It seemed like there was even _more_ to this story, but he could tell there was no way Bernard was going to give up any more information about this Tilly person. It looked like they were at the end of their rope.

Mother Nature got to her feet, her look of worry melting into a a face of determination. "Fine. I won't make you talk about her anymore, but I'm not gonna give up on making you better."

"What are we gonna do? You said the usual ways to fix him aren't working," Scott asked.

"I have an idea, but it might be a long shot." Mother Nature explained.

"Okay. What do we need to do?"

She looked at Bernard for another moment, before turning to Scott, "We need to call Father Time."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, here's chapter 4! Thank you so so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or even just read this story. It makes me so happy to know you guys are enjoying it. This chapter is a little short, but the next one will be longer, promise! If you like what you read, or have any comments at all, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of The Santa Clause movies.**

Scott watched Mother Nature pace back and forth across his office. She'd been doing so for the past fifteen minutes. He wondered if he should suggest she take a seat, but then thought better of it. Sometimes it was better to let all that restless energy out.

"You'd think Father Time wouldn't be late for a meeting," he said instead. Mother Nature let out a snort of surprised laughter.

"Right? But I swear that man is late as often as Sandman falls asleep while I'm talking."

Scott chuckled. "While we're on the subject of Father Time, are you ever going to tell me what we need him for?"

"I told you, wait until he gets here." She said, passing by his desk for the umpteenth time, "I don't want to get any hopes up before we speak to him. I'm not even sure my plan is going to work."

"It's been over an hour since you sent him a message asking him to meet us here. What if he hasn't gotten it yet? We could be waiting all day."

Mother Nature sighed and rolled her eyes, before pinning the portly man with a patient gaze. "We won't be waiting all day. He'll be here soo—"

"In three seconds, two seconds, and one second," laughed a deep, rumbly voice. Father Time appeared in the doorway, dressed in obnoxiously bright yellow and orange robes, his staff held firmly by his wrinkled hands. He slowly walked down the few steps towards Scott's desk, smiling at the other Legendary Figures in the room. "What do you think? I thought I'd try for a more summery look."

"You look very dapper." Mother Nature answered kindly.

"You're too sweet," he said. Scott stood to help the older man take a seat near the crackling fireplace. "So tell me, what is so dire that you needed me to drop everything and come to the North Pole?"

"Well, Father Time," Scott began, sharing a look with Mother Nature, "it's... one of my elves. My Head Elf to be exact."

"I'm no expert on elves, Santa. That's your department."

"Well, he himself isn't exactly the problem it's...well... you know what, I think Mother Nature better explain this."

Scott sat back and listened as Mother Nature told Father Time all about Jack's prank, Bernard's use of Winter magic, and the side effects that had plagued the elf ever since. She told him about trying to heal Bernard with Summer Magic, and his attempts to keep his heart warm on his own by thinking of warm thoughts, and how neither of those things had worked. She explained about Quentin coming to them with information about the mysterious Spirit of Winter named Tilly that she had somehow never heard of before and how Bernard had refused to discuss her.

"And I don't want to force him to talk about something that he's so obviously not ready to talk about, but if we don't do something soon, his heart will freeze. And there's nothing we can do after that." Mother Nature sighed.

"Hmm, this is quite a predicament," Father Time said, stroking his long white beard. "But I'm afraid I still don't see what you need me for."

"Well, I figured if Bernard doesn't want to talk about it, then we'll just have to ask Tilly ourselves."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Your plan is for us to find this Tilly person?" Scott interrupted.

"Yes, exactly!"

"How on earth would we be able to do that in time? No one knows what happened to her!"

Mother Nature shook her head, "No, no, you misunderstand me. I don't want to find her _now. _That would be impossible, it's been fifteen hundred years since she was banished and disappeared."

"Then how—"

"Oh, I see," Father Time said, understanding dawning in his eyes, "you want to find her _then." _

"What?" Scott mumbled confused.

"Oh, I know it's a long shot. And I know it'll take a ton of magic, Father Time, not to mention we'd be blatantly bending the rules, but I think this is really important. Bernard's not going to get better unless we get to the bottom of this. And he _has _to get better. The elves need him." Mother Nature looked pleadingly at her friend.

"I... I suppose we could work out a way..."

"Work out a way to do what, exactly?" Scott asked. Father Time motioned for the two of them to sit with him. Scott pulled up a chair for Mother Nature, and then grabbed one himself.

"As you are already aware, Santa, as a Father Time I have the ability to manipulate and control time whenever needed. Normally, that power is used for small things, like fixing a simple mistake. It's where deja vu comes from." He waited for Scott to nod to make sure he was following along. "But, my magic can be used for much greater leaps. You remember your first Legendary Council meeting where I explained the Escape Clause to you?"

"Of course. If I invoke the Escape Clause, it takes me back so that I never become Santa." Scott said. Father Time nodded. "Okay, but if we're going to go back in time, why wouldn't we just go back two days and stop Bernard from even using Winter magic in the first place. Problem solved."

"Because, you can't go around changing the past all willy nilly. The consequences would be too great."

"What consequences? All we'd be doing is stopping Bernard from getting sick. That's a _good_ thing," Scott argued.

"But what if his getting sick now is a catalyst for something in the future? If you stop him from getting sick, you also stop that future from happening, and that could upset the delicate balance of our world."

"The Escape Clause changes the past though."

"The Escape Clause is a gift from me to the current Santa. It's a chance for them to have a normal life again, if they truly desire it. And yes, it changes the past, but it also changes your present and your future. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"Oh, this is giving me a migraine," Scott mumbled, rubbing his temples. "Okay, so we can't change the past from two days ago. But isn't it still bad for us to go back fifteen hundred years and change the past?"

"I don't want to change the past, I want to... observe it, I suppose you could say," Mother Nature chimed in. "We just need enough time in the past to find Tilly and ask her how she healed Bernard the first time he started to freeze. Then, we can come back here and help our Bernard."

"Don't you think we might stand out to the people alive way back then?" Scott asked, motioned towards himself. Mother Nature dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand.

"I can cast a glamour on us so we'll blend in with any people we might meet."

"Okay, but what about Tilly? It might make her suspicious if we start asking about her teaching an elf Winter magic. I doubt she went around broadcasting that."

"We can um... just say we're asking for a friend. That's believable." Mother Nature gave Scott a hopeful smile. "I really think this could work, Santa."

"I think so too," said Father Time. "I won't be able to send you back there for long though. Leaping fifteen hundred years will take a lot of magic. I think the most I could give you is three days."

"How are we supposed to find Tilly in three days?" Scott groaned.

"I think I could help with that," a weak, raspy voice said from the doorway.

The Legendary Figures turned to see Bernard leaning against the door frame, Quentin and Judy standing behind him. Judy was carrying what looked like a bundle of leather. Quentin had a small, red velvet pouch in his arms and he was holding it very delicately.

"Bernard! You should be resting."

"What, and let you go rushing of to who-knows-when without the proper supplies?" The Head Elf said with a weak grin. He stepped into the room, placing one mitten-covered hand on Quentin's shoulder to keep himself steady. Santa stood up to help as well but Bernard motioned him away with a wave.

"How did you even know what Mother Natures's plan was? She hadn't even told me yet," Scott wondered.

"She said she was going to call Father Time. What else would she need him for if not leaping through time? And I know you can't go back to stop me from using Winter magic because you're not supposed to change things. So going back to Tilly is the only logical explanation." Scott insisted Bernard take his seat, so the Head Elf sat down in the squishy armchair beside Mother Nature. "Judy's packed you guys some food and water and cocoa so you don't have to worry about that stuff while you're gone."

"The bag it's in is enchanted like the one you use for the toys at Christmas, so you can just stuff it in your coat pocket and pull out the things as you need them. And I put the cocoa in a special thermos so it'll always stay nice and hot," Judy explained.

"Thanks!" Scott said taking the bag from her. "What do you have Quentin?"

The shorter boy handed it over, "There's a couple things in there. Some vials of salt and sugar, a few of our more sparkly Christmas ornaments, and uh..."

"An iron bracelet." Bernard finished.

Judy and Quentin both took a step back when Scott opened the bag. He asked them, "why do I need this stuff?"

"Listen Santa," Bernard began, "you and Mother Nature aren't going to find Tilly on your own. I know her, she didn't trust strangers easily, so there's no way you're going to just walk right up to her and start talking. You're going to need some help and the only people back then who Tilly _did _speak to were the elves. And the only elf who always knew where Tilly was, was me."

"So in order to find Tilly, we're going to have to find you? Well that shouldn't be too hard, we'd just have to make a quick stop at the North Pole."

"Except the elves didn't live at the North Pole back then," Bernard explained.

"You didn't?" Scott asked.

The Head Elf shook his head. "No. There was no reason to. There wasn't really a Christmas back then. I mean, some people knew the story of the saint whose charity and goodness would eventually give birth to Christmas magic, but not everyone. Back then, we elves were more... nomadic. Our magic still came from the happiness we brought to people, but in order to bring that happiness we traveled to different parts of the world and did good deeds, like finding lost things or fixing things in their homes. But humans were a lot more wary of anything magical back then, so we never stayed in one area too long and we _never _approached a human unless we absolutely had to."

"Then, how are we supposed to find you?"

"With this."

Bernard reached into his pocket, and pulled out Santa's watch. Scott was taken aback. He knows he was wearing it earlier, but Bernard must have slipped it off his wrist before he and Mother Nature had left to contact Father Time. He took it from him so he could examine it.

"I removed the power reserve I added last year to make room for a countdown clock. I know Father Time's magic won't keep you in the past for long, so this way you can keep track of exactly how much time you have left before you're pulled back to the present. Also, I fixed it with a special alarm. It should ring whenever you're near a magical presence. If you hear it ring, be on the lookout. Since you spend so much time with elves our magic to have someone's eyes pass over us shouldn't work on you. As long as you know we're near, you'll see us."

"Nicely done, Bernard," Scott said with a smile. "You did all this in an hour, and while you're sick?"

Bernard gave him a weak smile, "I'm an elf, it's kind of what I do."

Scott fastened his watch, "now what about the other stuff in that bag?"

"Well, I know I've heard that if you spill salt or sugar in front of a fairy or elf, they have to stop what they're doing to count it," Mother Nature said, digging through the little pouch and pulling out the vials.

"Really?" Scott said, taking one to give it a closer look. He smiled at his elves. "Should I try it out right now?"

"Please don't," they said in unison.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled, "so, is that what we're supposed to use it for?"

"Since the elves back then will be a bit skittish, you might need something to keep them in one place long enough to ask about Bernard or Tilly," Quentin explained.

"Gotcha, now what about the ornaments?"

"Oh, I picked those out! Do you like them?" Judy asked.

"They're beautiful. What are they for? I doubt we'll have time to decorate any trees."

"They're to trade with the elves. Magical creatures don't really like to do favors without something in return. And you know how much we elves _love_ sparkly things."

"But you guys do things for me all the time without me giving you little trinkets," Scott said, confused.

"We get to help you make toys for the children of the world, which keeps our magic alive. We don't need anything else besides that. The elves back then don't have a Santa though, so they might want something. Better to be prepared." Bernard said. He was suddenly racked with a hacking cough. Mother Nature leaned over to make sure he was alright.

"Alright then, that just leaves this." Scott pulled out the strange iron bracelet. Judy and Quentin both took another few steps back. Bernard grimaced and let out a hiss of pain as he reached up to run at his temples.

"Even I know the answer to that. Elves hate iron. It makes them sick." Father Time said.

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that, Bernard. Even being near it can give you guys a headache. Why on earth do you want me to bring it?" Scott said, stuffing it back into the pouch and pulling the drawstrings shut.

The Head Elf let out a small sigh of relief, "because if worse comes to worse, and I won't take you to Tilly, you can put that on me. I won't be able to remove it on my own, so my only option will be to take you to her so you'll get the bracelet off me."

"I don't know, I don't want to hurt you." Scott frowned.

"It's okay, it won't hurt me too bad. It's a small piece of iron. And like I said, it's a last resort. Keep it in that bag though if you're not using it. The pouch is made of the same material as your toy bag so no one will be able to sense it as long as it's in there."

"We should be leaving soon, Santa," Mother Nature said, standing from her seat. Scott nodded and placed the velvet pouch into his coat pocket. He then took the leather bundle and stuffed it into the larger pocket on the inside of his coat. It was a little bulky, but not so much it would bother him.

"Santa, Mother Nature..." Bernard mumbled, looking down at his covered hands resting in his lap, "Thank you... for doing all this."

"There's no need to thank us, buddy," Scott said, gently clasping the elf's shoulder.

"Anything to help you get better," Mother Nature agreed with a smile.

As Mother Nature and Father Time made the final preparations for their departure, Scott sent Quentin to get Carol so he could let her know the plan.

"So, we'll be gone for three days. Can you look after Bernard and make sure he stays as warm as possible?"

"Of course, Honey." Mrs. Claus said, giving Scott a hug goodbye, "Promise me you and Mother Nature will be safe."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Ready to go, Santa?" Mother Nature asked. He nodded. They moved to stand in front of the fireplace.

"Now, remember, you'll only have three days to get the information you need. And don't worry about changing the past. As long as you don't directly try to prevent anything from happening, it should be fine. Now take a deep breath and relax. Oh, and you may feel a little dizzy upon landing."

Father Time gave them a moment to do as he said and then raised his staff. He slammed the end onto the floor. Scott felt a strange reverberation rippling across the room. The air in his chest disappeared and all the colors brightened to the point of making his eyes water. The room started to spin and suddenly Scott felt a pull around his navel and all the colors turned to black.


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope everyone's holidays were great! Here's chapter five and I'm already getting started on number six. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited! I love getting to read your thoughts about this story :). Let me know how you feel about this one.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause series.**

The blackness in his vision lasted for a few more frightening moments, and then color burst in front of his eyes again. The world was spinning so fast everything was a blur. Scott felt a wave of dizziness and nausea crash into him, so he squeezed his eyes shut until he felt his feet firmly hit solid ground again. The sounds of his office, the crackling of firewood in the hearth and the high pitched laughter of enchanted puppets, was gone. Instead, he heard birds chirping from up above, the bleating of sheep from somewhere behind him, and the distinct murmurs of a crowd somewhere in the near distance. Scott opened his eyes, wincing from the sudden daylight.

They were standing on a dirt road near a large field. The sky above was full of somber gray clouds that almost completely blocked the bright light of the sun desperately trying to break through. A herd of fluffy sheep grazed not too far from them, more interested in the tall grass then the strangers who'd magically appeared just mere feet away. In front of them were a bunch of shelters made of sticks and straw that looked large enough to hold at least a few people each. Livestock roamed around the huts as the people tended small fields of crops near a stream on the far side of their homes. Up a hill a short distance away there was a slightly more put together home made of stone where a few people were working as well.

Scott couldn't help but stare in awe at his surroundings. Father Time's magic had worked. They definitely weren't at the North Pole anymore.

"Here, Santa, quickly," Mother Nature said. Scott turned to her as she waved a hand shining with white magic in front of herself and then him.

"What was that?" he asked.

"The glamour spell. It will make it so we blend in with the crowd if anyone is looking at us."

"Oh, right." Scott turned to look at the village again. "So, what do we do next."

"Well, hopefully Father Time's magic dropped us somewhere near the elves. I suggest we head down to the village and see if we can spot any of them. Is your watch working?"

Scott glanced down. The face of his watch still had the tiny circle that showed the actual time, but now beside it in curled gold lettering it showed "71 hours, 57 minutes, 20 seconds remaining." He watched the seconds tick down for a moment.

"Yeah, looks like it is. Bernard did a good job."

Mother Nature led the way as they both walked down the dirt road. Scott was a little nervous about walking around these people's homes, even with the glamour on. What if it didn't work and the villagers chased them away? Father Time had obviously dropped them here for a reason. They couldn't leave before they had a chance to look for any elves.

"Mother Nature, where are we, anyway?" Scott suddenly wondered.

"Hmm," she paused in her steps as she looked contemplatively up at the sky. "Let's see. Northern Europe, definitely. And we went back fifteen hundred years so sometime around 500 C.E."

Scott gave a low whistle. "Wait, how do you know we're in Europe?"

"I'm Mother Nature, I always know where I am."

"Right. Right," Scott mumbled. They'd started walking again and were now about to enter the village. Scott held his breath as a scruffy man tending to some pigs looked his way. He was relieved and pleasantly surprised when the man's eyes seemed to pass over the two of them with indifference. Mother Nature's glamour had worked. They walked slowly, eyes scanning the crowd for anyone who seemed out of place. There weren't many places for them to search, and Scott was about to say this village was a bust when out of nowhere he heard a soft high pitched _ding._

Both he and Mother Nature stopped walking and looked at each other. Scott raised his wrist wearing the watch up to his ear.

_Ding_.

"The alarm!" Mother Nature whispered, gazing around them to find the magical creature that had set off the watch.

Scott searched too. He hoped it was an elf. They didn't have long in this time period so they needed to find Bernard and Tilly fast. He saw the same man still tending his pigs, a little boy carrying straw, two women holding long forked sticks chatting, a girl with pointed ears holding a spindle peaking out from behind one of the huts—

"Mother Nature! Look, there!" Scott whispered fervently. He tried to motion towards the young looking girl as nonchalantly as he could. The Legendary Figure turned to where he was pointing.

"Nice work, Santa!"

"Let's go talk to her," Scott said, stepping in the direction of the girl.

"Wait, Santa! Remember what Bernard said. The elves back now were a little skittish around humans. We don't want to frighten her off."

"How are we supposed to talk to her then?"

Mother Nature thought, "just... don't make it seem like you're walking _towards_ her. Act like we're just passing by."

They made their way casually to the elf. She was still peeking out from behind the hut. Scott followed her gaze and noticed she was staring at the two women. He wondered what she was doing.

"Hey, Mother Nature," Scott whispered as another question popped into his mind, "how exactly is anyone supposed to understand us? I don't think the people back now spoke the same language as us..."

Mother Nature waved away his concern. "The glamour I placed on us doesn't just mask our appearances. It makes us completely blend in. So they hear the language they're expecting to hear. Same for us. We hear what they say spoken back to us in a language we can understand."

"Wow... that's some pretty powerful magic."

"You turned a minivan into a horse drawn sleigh, and a glamour impresses you?" Mother Nature smiled. Scott laughed.

His laugh must have been too loud though, because it caught the attention of the elf girl. She was thin, with dirty blonde waves that reached to her elbows. In her hair she wore a crown of myrtle, whose leaves almost covered the tips of her pointed ears, but not quite. The yellow tunic she wore reached to her ankles and around it she had a woven leather belt that she'd entwined sprigs of lavender throughout. Scott noticed she was barefoot.

He and Mother Nature paused. A quiet staring contest took place between the three of them. Scott held his breath, wondering if she was about to run off. If she did, they'd have to start searching all over again and that would cost them valuable time.

"Hello, little elf," Mother Nature said kindly. The elf stiffened. "We were just wondering if we could speak to you for a moment?"

"Y-you can see me?" the elf asked in a quiet voice.

"Yeah, we can," Scott said. "Um, what are you doing?"

The little elf rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment, seemingly debating on whether or not to answer. She stared up at Scott, a curious look in her eyes. She pressed the spindle to her chest and moved her eyes from Scott's to the two women a few yards away.

"The woman in the red tunic lost her spindle yesterday. Her friend loaned her one, but she needs her own back. I'm waiting to see which hut is hers so I can come back tonight and return it."

"Why don't you give it back to her now?" he asked.

"We're not supposed to talk to humans," she said simply, eyeing Scott and Mother Nature. "Did you... need something?"

"Oh! Right, listen um... I'm sorry, what's your name, sweetheart?" Scott asked.

The elf gave him a funny look at the pet name, but still answered, "it's Maerwynn."

"M-Mary when?"

"_Maerwynn_."

"Right. That's a lovely name." Mother Nature interrupted, giving Scott a pointed look.

"Very," Scott agreed. "Listen, Maerwynn, could you possibly tell us where an elf named Bernard is? We need to talk to him."

The little elf narrowed her eyes at them and asked, "why do you want to talk to him?"

"We need to speak with him about... a mutual friend of ours," Mother Nature explained.

"It's really important. Can you tell us where he is?" Scott pressed.

"I don't know..." Maerwynn hesitated.

"Oh! I know!" Scott exclaimed, reaching into his coat pocket. "How about a trade?"

"A trade?"

"Yeah. You tell us where Bernard is, and in return I'll give you something out of my bag here."

Maerwynn stared at the velvet pouch, head tilted in interest. "What's in your bag?"

"Well..." Scott said. He went to open it, then paused as he thought better of it. The iron bracelet was in there, and it seemed like Quentin, Judy, and Bernard could sense it as soon as the bag was open. Scott wondered, if the pouch was made of the same material as his toy bag, could he bring what he needed forward like he did the toys at Christmas? He hoped so. He concentrated on the ornament he had in mind, imagined everything else being pushed beneath the magic inside the soft velvet bag. Then, holding his breath, he loosened the drawstrings and tugged it open. Maerwynn showed no signs of discomfort. Scott quickly grabbed the ornament and then pulled the strings tight again, shutting everything else away.

"Here we go," he said, holding up the ornament so it caught what little light was shining through the overcast sky. It was a small green glass Christmas tree, about four inches tall. Little glass beads of red, silver, and blue decorated the tree like neatly hung ornaments and at the very top was a beautiful yellow star. Maerwynn's eyes grew wide.

"It's so pretty," she mumbled. "What is it?"

"It's used for decorating trees, but some friends of mine like to wear these to add a little cheer to their outfits." Scott explained.

"So what do you say? Will you tell us where we can find Bernard if we give you this ornament?" Mother Nature asked. Maerwynn looked back and forth from the glass tree to Scott and Mother Nature. She smiled.

"Okay, I'll tell you." She held out her hand for the ornament. Scott placed it gently in her palm. She turned it around in her hands, watching the sunlight catch the glass at different angles. Finally, she twisted the thin gold hook at the top through her woven belt, using the lavender and leather to make sure it was secure. "Bernard went to the coast this morning to play, but he should be back tonight in the village to help the humans."

"Why at night?" Scott asked.

"It's to make sure the humans don't see us. Magic kind of scares them."

"I see. Well, I guess we should try the coast first. Which one is it?" Scott wondered, shoving the velvet bag back into his coat pocket.

"I don't know what the humans call it. But it's northwest from here. I think it normally takes them about a day to travel to it."

"A whole day?" Scott sighed. He looked at Mother Nature.

"I'm sure I could get us there faster," the legendary figure said, staring off in the distance with a look of deep concentration.

"Great," Scott looked back down at the elf, "thanks so much for your help, Maerwynn."

"You're welcome, but I should probably warn you, Bernard doesn't really like talking to strangers. He might not listen to you."

"Well thanks, but I think we've got it all under control. Good luck with returning that spindle." They waved goodbye, and then Scott followed Mother Nature away from the village and its people.

"I'll teleport us to the coast once we're farther away from here. I think I know where she's talking about."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked.

"Well, it's hard because she couldn't give us a name, but the wind here is carrying a warmth of magic. If I follow it while I'm teleporting us, I think we'll end up at the right beach."

"I didn't know you could do that."

Mother Nature smiled. "As a Mother Nature, listening to the earth is one of my specialties."

Once they were sure no one from the village could see them, they linked hands and Scott held his breath as his friend's magic surrounded them. He felt a strange heat wash over him, like when you sunbathe on a clear summer day, and then that same pull around his navel.

He stumbled when he felt the ground beneath his feet turn from hard packed dirt to loose wet sand. Scott looked around at the small strip of beach and the dark blue of the ocean. The sky was a more stormy gray here. He wondered if they were about to get caught in the rain.

_Ding_.

Scott looked down at his wrist and then up at Mother Nature. They glanced around, looking for any sign of an elf. In the distance, Scott saw a boy standing in the surf. He tapped Mother Nature on the shoulder and pointed towards the kid.

"Go slow. Remember, Maerwynn said Bernard doesn't like talking to strangers. If that's him we don't want to frighten him off." Mother Nature whispered. Scott nodded and together they made their way up the beach.

The boy heard them approaching. It was obvious from the way he kept his head down and his eyes averted, and yet Scott could sense that he was being watched. When they were close enough, Scott called in the most friendly voice he had, "Hi there! Mind if we talk?"

The boy looked up, suspicion in his dark brown eyes. Scott nearly gasped in surprise. That was definitely Bernard looking at them, but he was... younger.

He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, though Scott knew he was much older than that. He wore a short blue tunic and faded olive trousers, with a fur-lined wool cloak pinned by an intricate gold broach. His bare feet were covered in wet sand. Bernard's dark curls, which Scott was so used to seeing hidden beneath his green cap, were set free and they were messy and damp from ocean water. Sprigs of holly were braided into the curls around his pointed ears, the red berries of the plant standing out cheerily on such a dreary day. There was a damp leather pouch in his sandy hands.

"Who are you?" Bernard asked. His eyes narrowed as he looked over the two legendary figures.

"Well, uh, my name is Scott and this is my friend..." Scott paused, because he knew he couldn't introduce her as Mother Nature. There would have been a different Mother Nature during this time, so Bernard would think they were trying to trick him. Scott decided to just skip giving a proper introduction, "we were wondering if we could talk to you for a bit?"

Bernard stared at them for a moment before turning away to fasten the pouch to a woven leather belt around his waist. "No, I don't think so."

"No?" Mother Nature asked. "Why not?"

He pinned them with a mistrustful look. "Because you're wearing a glamour. I don't want to talk to people who are trying to hide stuff from me."

Scott and Mother Nature stared at each other in disbelief. How had Bernard known? Scott decided to try and put the shorter boy's mind at ease.

"We're not trying to hide from you."

"Then why are you wearing a glamour?"

"How do you know we are?" Mother Nature asked.

"Look, lady. I've been around a long time. I know glamour magic when I see it. And people only use that stuff when they have something to hide."

"Well that's not true. Maybe we just want to blend in so we don't scare anyone. You and the other elves know all about that," Scott argued.

Bernard took a step back. "How'd you know I was an elf?"

Scott opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything to say. Maerwynn had been much more trusting, so she hadn't wondered how they knew she was an elf. Scott should have known Bernard wouldn't let something like that slide though. The Head Elf took his job very seriously, so it made sense that he would question how two complete strangers knew about the elves when only magical creatures and the Legendary Figures were supposed to. They couldn't tell him the truth, that would bring them dangerously close to interfering instead of observing, but it was obvious they weren't magical creatures so he couldn't lie and say they were either. Scott wasn't really sure what to do.

He must have hesitated too long, because Bernard was backing away again. "I'm leaving."

"Oh, please wait, Bernard. We just want to talk." Mother Nature said, reaching out a hand.

"No! How do you even know my name? I didn't tell it to you!" he yelled.

"We'll explain, just stop," Scott said gently. He and Mother Nature stepped closer to try and stop the elf from leaving.

"Go away!" Bernard thrust out his hand. There was a sudden gust of freezing wind. Scott heard the telltale crackling of ice being formed, and then the next thing he knew his feet were slipping out from underneath him. Hit hit his back hard, all the air leaving his lungs from the impact. He heard Mother Nature let out a surprised yelp as she fell as well. Scott looked up just in time to see Bernard disappear in a shower of red and green sparkles. He let his head fall back onto the ice with a clunk.

"That could have gone better," he mumbled.

"No kidding," Mother Nature agreed as she sat up. She stared at the spot Bernard had been standing in just a moment ago. "That was winter magic."

"Yeah, and he had no reservations about using it."

"Maybe because he knows Tilly is here to heal him?" Mother Nature wondered.

"Maybe, but our Bernard still treated it like an emergency only kind of thing. This Bernard just used it so we'd leave him alone."

"It's obviously not forbidden for other magical beings to use it in this time."

"When did it become forbidden?" Scott asked, sitting up as well.

"I was pretty sure it was around now, but I suppose it just hasn't happened yet."

Scott let out a sigh and looked around the beach. "What do we do now?"

"Well, Maerwynn said Bernard was going to be in the village tonight. I guess we'll just have to go back and try again." Mother Nature answered.

"We need a better plan, then. Just walking up and talking to Bernard obviously isn't working." They both got to their feet. Scott pulled out the velvet pouch. "Maybe something in here will help?"

"Let's hope so, because after tonight, we only have two more days."

Scott stared at the bag in his hands. He really hoped the things Bernard packed them would be enough, because if they weren't, they might not find a way to stop their friend's heart from freezing.


	6. Chapter 6

**It's chapter six! You know what this means? There's only three or so chapters left! My goal is to still have his done by the end of the month so hopefully I can, but if that doesn't work out then hey, at least we get to start the new year off with some Santa Clause :)**

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or even just read this story. I love hearing from you guys! I hope you'll let me know your thoughts on this chapter too. I don't want to keep you so, onward to reading!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause series. **

Scott and Mother Nature spent the rest of the day by the beach. They didn't want to go back to the village so soon, in case Bernard saw them and it scared him off again. It had started to drizzle, so Mother Nature used her powers to grow a large tree for them to take shelter under. The leaves of the plant were bright green and wider than Scott's head. The foliage was thick so almost no rain was breaking through their cover, except for a few drops. Mother Nature had even made them a small fire to warm themselves by. Scott had pulled out the leather bundle so they could eat some of the food Judy had packed them. He snacked on a bag of trail mix and a couple of his favorite icing covered sugar cookies and Mother Nature had a big juicy apple and some fresh veggies Judy had sliced just for the trip. They discussed the items remaining in the velvet bag and which ones they thought would be the best to use to get Bernard to talk to them. Scott didn't want to use the iron bracelet if he didn't have to, even if the Bernard from his time had said it wouldn't hurt too much.

Mother Nature suggested using the salt or sugar to keep Bernard in one place long enough for them to talk. Scott was a little doubtful it would work since he'd never seen the effects of spilled sugar on an elf before, but he trusted that Mother Nature knew what she was talking about. They waited for night to fall. It was so much darker then Scott was used to without the fluorescent streetlights of Elfsburg. Mother Nature teleported them back to the village. Scott summoned a snow globe full of bright white Christmas lights so they could see. It was very quiet. All he could hear was the soft sounds of nocturnal animals skittering about.

_Ding! Ding! Ding!_

Scott squinted down at his watch. That was definitely the magic alarm going off again. A high pitched laugh was carried across the air. Scott and Mother Nature shared a look, before quietly approaching the village.

Several elves were running around the huts. Some were sneaking in and out, bringing things like spindles and tools into the homes. Scott remembered Bernard saying the elves would return lost things to people, because their magic came from the happiness good deeds brought. He saw another elf, red hair in a messy braid with wildflowers entwined throughout, sitting on the ground as she fixed the stitching on a pair of leather shoes. Mother Nature approached carefully.

"Excuse me, could you tell us where Bernard is, please?" she asked. The little elf looked up in surprise at them, but then motioned in the direction of one of the animal pens. Mother Nature thanked her and she and Scott headed that way. Scott quickly slipped one of the vials out of the velvet pouch as they approached the fence. Bernard was sitting on the ground, a few tools beside him. He was hammering away at the wood, focus completely on the job in front of him.

"Bernard," Mother Nature called when they were right behind him. The elf twisted around, surprise and anger clouding his dark brown eyes.

"What are you two doing here?" he said, outraged. Scott wasted no time. He uncorked the vial and then poured a little of its contents on the ground in front of the boy. Bernard stared in horror at the spilled sugar, before glaring up at Scott. He threw his hammer onto the dirt beside him and then situated himself into a more comfortable position as he started slowly counted the grains of sugar. Scott looked back and forth between the elf and the vial. He really hadn't been expecting that to work.

"Now that we have a moment of your time, we'd like to talk." Mother Nature said kindly as she knelt down to be eye level with Bernard.

"How did you even know this would work?" the elf muttered.

"We know a lot of things," Scott said, sitting as well. He placed his shining snow globe on the ground beside him. "For instance, we happen to know that you know Winter magic."

Bernard paused in his counting to stare at Scott, "No, I don't."

"Bernard, you just used it on us earlier today." Mother Nature reminded him.

"T-that's not what that was."

"Yes it was. We know Winter magic when we see it."

The elf's stare slowly morphed into an angry glare. "Well, even if it was Winter magic, it's your fault I had to use it."

"How is it our fault?" Scott asked.

"You two scared me! You just came up out of nowhere wearing glamours and saying you needed to talk to me. Also, you still haven't said how you know my name! I've never met you before, so I know I didn't give it to you."

"Look, buddy. We're sorry we scared you," Scott sighed apologetically. "and I'm sorry about making you sit here counting sugar. I swear though, all we wanted was to talk. I get it though, it probably was kind of frightening to have two strangers come up and start acting like they know who you are."

"And about knowing your name, a... friend of ours told us about an elf named Bernard who knew Winter magic." Mother Nature lied.

"Who? Was it one of the Easter Bunny's kids? Those rabbits are always sticking their little noses in our business."

Scott laughed. "Not exactly, but do you forgive us?"

"And can we finally talk with you? We really need to discuss this Winter magic with you," Mother Nature said.

Bernard looked at the two Legendary Figures and then back at the ground. He slid a few more grains of sugar into the small pile he'd already counted. He asked, miserably, "are you going to tell Mother Nature about me using that magic and get me in trouble?"

"Is it against the rules for you to use it?" Scott asked curiously.

"Not exactly, but Mother Nature doesn't really like it when us elves use magic besides our own. She says it's dangerous, but I don't really get why."

"She's right," Mother Nature said. "Winter magic can be really harmful to you elves. Your hearts are supposed to be filled with warmth and happiness, but Winter magic takes all that away. Haven't you ever felt that when you've used it?"

Bernard paused in his counting again as he mulled over Mother Nature's words. "I... guess so, but I know how to make myself feel better."

"Really? How?" Scott leaned in closer.

"You just think of warm things." he said simply. Scott sighed.

"What if that doesn't work?" Mother Nature asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What would you do if thinking of warm things didn't work and the cold wouldn't go away?"

"It always goes away. Why are you asking me this?"

Scott and Mother Nature shared a look. They were going to have to tell him more of the truth. "Listen, Bernard. We're asking you all of this because... one of our friends used Winter magic, and now he's sick. We've tried everything we can think of to help him get better, but nothing is working. We were hoping maybe you could help us."

"How would I help?" he asked.

"Well, we know you're friends with the Spirit of Winter. A girl named Tilly? We were hoping you could get her to talk to us to see if she knows anything that might help him recover."

Bernard hesitated. "Tilly doesn't really like talking to strangers."

"I know, but this is really important." Scott said. Bernard stared between Scott and Mother Nature.

"I... guess I can try. I'm supposed to meet her tomorrow. You can come along."

"Really? Oh, thank you Bernard. That would be a huge help." Mother Nature gave him a grateful look.

"So is that all you guys wanted earlier? To talk about getting help for your friend?" The Legendary Figures nodded. "Oh. Sorry about running off, then. I didn't realize."

"It's okay. We knew you elves were a bit skittish. We should have tried to explain ourselves better." Scott admitted.

Bernard looked away from them and at the elves working in the village. "I should have given you a chance to speak. But I'm the Head Elf, you see, so it's my job to make sure the elves all stay safe. That's why I don't really like them talking to humans. It's dangerous."

"We understand. You're just trying to look out for them."

Bernard gave them a small smile. "I should have known you were nice."

"Why do you say that?" Mother Nature asked.

"Because, he kind of feels like an elf. At least, your magic definitely reminds me of ours," Bernard said, tapping Scott's snow globe with the tip of his pointer finger. The lights in the glass ball flickered brightly at the elf's touch. "I can tell you used magic to summon this strange thing. It feels like something an elf would think up."

"Really? Well, what do you know." Scott gave Mother Nature a knowing smile. "So, where should we meet you tomorrow so we can talk to Tilly?"

"Hmm. Well, I guess so you don't have to wait around for me... you could come back to our home with us and we'll just go together to meet her."

"Your home? I thought you elves moved around?" Mother Nature asked.

"We do, but we always set up a little home for us to rest in for the of couple weeks we spend in an area."

"Oh, okay. Well, we'd love to see where you guys live."

They sat with Bernard as he finished counting the sugar. Luckily, too much hadn't spilled. Scott had offered to help the elf count, but Bernard had smacked his hand away and told him he would just mess things up. Once he was done, Scott helped the elf finish repairing the fence he'd been working on when they'd first walked up. Afterwards, Bernard called to the other elves that it was time to leave. He explained to the Legendary Figures that they tried to be far away from the village before dawn, because while finding their lost things and having the chores done for them made the humans happy, the villagers were very frightened of magic. Which meant it was dangerous for the elves to linger too long after they finished working.

They followed Bernard and the others up the dirt path and into the forest. Scott held up the snow globe so their path was lit. The light didn't reach very far, instead it danced around the thick trees, casting interesting and spooky shadows in the night. According to Scott's watch they walked for over an hour, until finally they reached the side of a steep hill with a large pile of rocks jutting out from the side. Scott looked at Bernard in confusion, but the elf was too busy running his hands up the side of the largest rock. Scott felt a pulse of magic ripple through the air, much like the one he felt whenever the ice at the North Pole opened for him. Bernard moved back as the rock slid slowly to the side to reveal the entrance to a cave. The Head Elf motioned for the others to head in first and once he was sure all the elves were inside, he walked into the cave, calling for Mother Nature and Scott to watch their heads.

Scott went first, doubling over because the ceiling was so low. Little fireflies floated gracefully in the air, lighting the path for the elves. Scott and Mother Nature followed them down the rocky slope and into a large cavern lit by several campfires and even more of the brightly glowing fireflies. There was a wide hole at the top of the cavern where you could just see the twinkling of stars through the smoke drifting up and out of the cave. Scott looked around at the curious faces of even more elves. The ones who'd been busy in the village ran forward, shouting cheerfully at their friends.

"Come on," Bernard said taking their hands, "I'll introduce you."

He led them to the center of the cave. The chit chat that had erupted among the other elves at their arrival stopped as Bernard cleared his throat.

"Hello everyone! I just wanted to introduce you to some new friends of ours. This is Scott and..." he paused and looked at Mother Nature, "I'm sorry... I don't think you ever told me your name."

"Um... it's uh, Nat?" Mother Nature said slowly.

"Oh, okay. This is Nat!" The other elves let out a loud chorus of hellos.

"Nat?" Scott whispered quietly so Bernard wouldn't hear.

"I couldn't think of anything else!"

"Do you guys want to sit with the elves for a while? I've got to make my rounds to check on everyone," Bernard interrupted.

Scott and Mother Nature nodded and then moved to sit with a large group of elves lounging around one of the campfires. There was a rather awkward moment as they all stared at one another. Scott had never felt this out of place around elves before. In his time, he knew all the elves names and he loved talking to them. Some of them in this time looked familiar, but he wasn't quite sure if he knew them in the future or not. When they met Maerwynn that morning, Scott had been surprised to see an elf he didn't know. Since the elves lived so long, he'd honestly figured he'd just be running into younger versions of all his friends, but it looked like he was wrong. He wondered if a lot of these elves were the ones who lived on the outskirts of Elfsburg in quiet retirement. That would make sense why Scott didn't really know their faces all that well.

"Hi Scott!" a pleasant, high-pitched voice said. He turned to see Maerwynn smiling at him as she took a seat beside Mother Nature. She greeted the other Legendary Figure with a toothy grin.

"Hello Maerwynn, did you get to return that spindle?"

She nodded. "I sure did. I hope that lady is really happy when she finds it in the morning."

"I'm sure she will be," Mother Nature said.

Scott looked over to see Bernard leaning down to talk to a much younger elf. The shorter boy had wispy blond curls and was wearing a long red tunic that reached down to the tops of his soft leather boots. The elf looked about two or three years old, which Scott knew meant he was really about a century old. Bernard pulled a few small sea shells out of the pouch tied onto his belt. He placed them into the younger boy's hands, which earned the Head Elf an excited giggle. Bernard smiled and patted the elf on the head before getting up to check on another group. Scott watched the younger elf play with his new seashells.

"That's one of our youngest elves," Maerwynn explained. "His name is Quentin. Bernard says he thinks Quentin's gonna be really smart."

"D-did you say, Quentin?" Scott stammered. Maerwynn nodded. He looked back over at the young elf, noticing the boy had a face full of freckles, just like the Quentin in his time did. Scott smiled, making a mental note to tease his Quentin about how adorable he was when he was younger.

"Bernard really takes care of you all, doesn't he?" Mother Nature asked.

"Yeah, he says its the most important job he'll ever have," said a young brunette elf with little sprigs of purple bugloss braided into the hair along the sides of his head. They watched Bernard walk slowly around each group of elves. He'd check that they were eating or were warm enough, and the youngest ones he gave little trinkets out of his bag. It made Scott happy to see that even fifteen hundred years in the past, his friend took his responsibility to the other elves so seriously. Scott's desire to find a way to help the Head Elf burned even brighter. They couldn't let his heart freeze. The elves needed him.

They spent the rest of the night with the elves, finally falling asleep by the dying flames of the fire after several stories from their new friends about all the people they've helped. Bernard woke them up a little after sunrise and the three of them set off to a clearing about an hours walk from the elves' home. When they finally reached the meeting spot, Bernard told them to wait for his signal to come out.

"Like I told you yesterday, Tilly doesn't really like strangers. Let me talk to her first. She trusts me so she should listen when I tell her you guys are nice."

"Okay. Thanks for doing this, Bernard." Scott said. He and Mother Nature took cover in some bushes as Bernard walked forward to call his friend.

"Tilly! Are you here?" the elf yelled into the quiet of the morning. The only response was the chirping of birds. Scott wondered if this mysterious Spirit of Winter would even show up, and if she didn't, how were they going to find a way to heal Bernard? A gust of wind blew through the clearing suddenly, as cold as the snow at the North Pole. It swirled around Bernard, ruffling his hair playfully. He smiled wide. "C'mon, Tilly! Come play."

The wind left Bernard to swirl around a spot just a few feet away. It spun and spun, like some mysterious tiny twister, until in a burst of snowflakes it disappeared and in it's place stood a young girl. She looked no older than fourteen or fifteen with skin as pale as freshly fallen snow. Her waist-length white hair was twisted into several intricate braids. Icy dew drops clung to the ends of the strands, as if they were frozen mid-drop. Snowflakes dusted her eyebrows and eyelashes and shimmering frost was creeping across the apples of her cheeks. The tunic she wore was ankle-length and bright white and over that she had a pale blue fur-lined cloak. She gave Bernard a toothy smile.

"Hi Bernard!"

"Hi, Tilly," he said, cheeks blushing even rosier than normal as he grinned back at her.

"_That's_ Tilly?" Mother Nature mumbled.

"Looks like it. Why?" Scott answered, giving the other Legendary Figure a curious look.

"She's so... _young_."

"So?" he asked.

Mother Nature looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "The Legendary figures aren't supposed to be _children_, Santa. The positions carry far too much responsibility, not to mention the magic that we use causes most of us to stop aging until it's time to pass on our powers. Tilly shouldn't have been chosen to be the Spirit of Winter at her age."

"I.. wonder why she was?" Scott whispered, looking back towards the clearing.

"Want to go skate on ice today? I froze a pond not too far from her," Tilly asked, skipping closer to her friend. Scott noticed she had ice surrounding her leather boots. It wrapped around them, forming into thin blades along their bottoms. He realized they were a crude version of ice skates.

"Um, maybe later. I actually need to talk to you about something." Bernard answered, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Tilly frowned in confusion, "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, everything is fine. It's just... I met some people who said they need your help."

"What people?"

"Their names are Scott and Nat. They said their friend tried to use Winter magic, and now he's really sick. I was hoping you could help them?"

"I don't know, Bernard..." she hesitated.

"Please? They're really nice people."

Tilly sighed and then nodded. Bernard grinned widely and then turned to wave at Scott and Mother Nature. The Legendary Figures shared an apprehensive look as they made their way out of their hiding place. Tilly's eyes narrowed as they approached. Scott wondered if she could tell they were wearing a glamour too.

"Hello," Mother Nature said kindly, "It's nice to meet you."

Tilly didn't answer. She just looked between Bernard and them. A nervous energy started buzzing in Scott's stomach.

"Um, right. Well, Tilly, it's like Bernard said. A friend of ours used Winter magic and now his heart is freezing. We've tried everything we can think of to help him, but nothing's worked." Scott explained.

"He just has to think of warm things," she answered, a little shortly.

"He's tried, but it's not healing him. We're afraid we don't have much more time."

"You can help them, right?" Bernard asked. Tilly looked at Bernard, her gaze much more gentle.

"You elves are always so trusting and kind. You'd try to help everyone if you could." she said, reaching over to straighten one of the holly leaves in the Head Elf's hair. Bernard blushed and batted her hands away.

"So you will, then?"

Tilly looked at the Legendary Figures, her eyes lingering over Scott. "I... suppose so, but only if you two promise to leave right after."

"Um, sure, but can I ask why?" Scott questioned, fidgeting under her suspicious gaze.

"I don't trust people who have to walk around wearing glamours. I'll help because Bernard asked me to, but I want you to leave right after."

Mother Nature sighed and gave Scott a look that clearly said _we're leaving anyway, might as well._ "Alright. It's a deal."

"I like to play by the elves' rules. Do you have something to trade to make our deal official?" Tilly asked.

"Oh, I do. I think I have something you'll really like." Scott walked closer as he pulled out the velvet pouch. He focused on bringing the ornaments to the top again as he pulled open the drawstrings.

Tilly's eye's widened and before he knew it she had snatched the bag out of his hands.

"Tilly, what are you doing? Don't just take things from people!" Bernard scolded. Tilly ignored him as she tugged the bag the rest of the way open, eyes blazing. She reached in and Scott felt his heart drop into his stomach in dread. Tilly pulled out the iron bracelet and then threw the pouch back at Scott. Bernard gasped and stepped away, looking fearfully at the bracelet.

"What is this?" Tilly yelled, "Were you planning on using this on one of the elves?"

"N-no, of course not!" Scott stammered.

"Then why do you have it? I knew you two couldn't be trusted. Anyone who has to walk around in a glamour has something to hide. You need to stay away from the elves!"

"It's not what it looks like, we swear!"

"Please, Tilly, let us explain. We'd never hurt the elves," Mother Nature said soothingly.

"I don't believe you!" Tilly used the hand not holding the bracelet to pull Bernard behind her. "If you don't leave, I'll make you!"

"Look, if you'd just listen-"

"_Leave!" _she screamed, throwing her free hand up.

A blast of freezing cold wind exploded from her palm and hit Scott and Mother Nature full force. Scott felt an icy chill start to spread across his skin. He stumbled back, throwing his arms up in front of his face in a meager attempt to protect himself. He heard the crackling of ice, felt it start to spread across his body when suddenly an incredible warmth washed over him and chased away the cold. Scott was surrounded by a heat warmer than a summer's day and then he felt that familiar pull around his navel. The last thing he saw was Tilly's furious glare and Bernard's devastated face before the world changed around him and he and Mother Nature were whisked away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Did everyone have a great New Year? I hope so! Sorry this took a while to get out. I was so busy the last week of December and then I got sick over New Years so any free time I had I kind of just spent sleeping. Also, this chapter was determined to fight me! I think I finally got it to a place where I like it though. Thank you guys for being patient and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Be on the look out for number eight! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of The Santa Clause series.**

Scott stumbled as the ground beneath him changed from the soft grass of the clearing to the loud crunch of fallen leaves. He looked around and saw they were standing in a beautiful forest. The tall trees surrounding them were a bright fire of oranges, yellows, and reds, with beams of warm soothing sunlight trickling down through the thick foliage. It danced across their faces and the ankle deep dead leaves they stood in. The air was refreshingly crisp and reminded him of the times when Charlie was younger and Scott would take him to the pumpkin patch for hayrides and corn mazes. He turned to Mother Nature and sighed.

"Well, that could have gone over better. At least you got us out of there before she froze us."

Mother Nature looked at him in confusion. "I... I didn't do that, Santa."

"What? But, that _felt_ like your magic."

"It did, didn't it? It wasn't me though."

"That's because it was me," said a silvery voice from behind. The legendary Figures turned around to see a statuesque woman staring at them in interest. She wore a beautiful flowing set of purple and gold robes that complimented her umber complexion nicely, with the bottom of the fabric heavily decorated with creeping gold vines and large colorful flowers. Her gold headpiece sat proudly on top her braided salt and pepper hair and between the different spines of the crown fresh autumn leaves and verdant vines were intricately woven. Scott opened his mouth to greet the stranger, but at that moment, their surroundings shifted.

It was like someone hit the fast forward button on a remote. The light above them flickered in and out as the sun and moon chased each other across the sky. The leaves in the trees shook in a nonexistent wind, each one curling and falling to the ground at a fascinating and frightening speed. The temperature in the air dropped until Scott could see his breath misting in front of his face. The leaves around his feet crumbled and blew away as fat snowflakes floated down from a now endless gray sky, leaving Scott and Mother Nature standing shin deep in white powder. Icicles and snow clung to the now bare limbs of the trees, looking like half melted frosting when it drips off a too warm cake.

Scott let out a low whistle as time resumed its normal pace. "What was that?"

"Nature magic..." Mother Nature whispered. She looked at the woman still standing patiently across from them. "If we're here, then that means you're..."

"Mother Nature. Pleased to meet you," the woman smiled.

"Uh, where is here, exactly?" Scott asked.

"Oh, everywhere and no where. But a more simple answer would be that this place is the home of the Mother Natures of our world."

"Really," he said impressed. He'd never been to where Mother Nature called home, or Father Time, for that matter. The Council had only ever had their meetings at Easter Bunny's den, Tooth Fairy's manor, Cupid's domus, and the North Pole's workshop. He'd always wondered why the head of their council had never invited them to her home, but now he suspected it was because she knew no one would be able to pay attention with the seasons shifting mesmerizingly around them. Scott's eyes were drawn back to this time's Mother Nature as she brushed some freshly fallen snow from her robes. "Wait, you said_ you_ saved us from becoming living icicles?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well thanks. We appreciate that."

"You're welcome. In return for saving you, do you mind telling me who you are and why on earth you were arguing with the Spirit of Winter?"

"Of course. My name is Scott and this is my friend... Nat. We were trying to talk to Tilly about a friend of ours who's sick, but there was a little misunderstanding—"

"No no, I'm sorry, I meant would you tell me who you _really _are?"

"What?" He heard his Mother Nature, _Nat, _ask quietly.

"Oh, come now you two. Did you really think a Legendary Figure wouldn't be able to recognize a glamour when she sees one?"

Scott shared a look with his friend. No, they hadn't expected it, that's why it had been such a bad surprise when Tilly had noticed it as well. Scott wondered what gave them away, because the elves certainly couldn't tell, besides Bernard. He watched Nat square her shoulders, a resolved look on her face.

"Okay, I give up. Our plan has obviously fallen apart and there's no use hiding this from you, not if we want your help—"

"Do we want her help? I mean, no offense or anything, but I thought we wanted Tilly's?" Scott interrupted.

"Tilly just tried to turn us into a couple of ice cubes because she thinks we're out to get the elves. There's no way we're getting her help now."

"Maybe if we went back to explain?"

"Like she'd even let us talk!"

"Bernard could vouch for us! She listens to him, remember?"

"Yes, except Bernard is probably scared out of his mind now thinking we want to trap him in iron or something."

"He'll listen if we try to explain ourselves. I _know_ Bernard!" Scott argued.

"No, Santa, you know _your_ Bernard. He isn't—"

"Excuse me!" the other Mother Nature called over their fighting. They quieted down, mumbling apologies as they turned to face her again. "Now I can tell you, if Tilly has decided you're someone she can't trust, then there's no fixing that. She's a very stubborn girl. Once she's gotten an idea in her head nothing anyone says or does can change her mind. So if you two have come here seeking her assistance, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

"But she's the only one who can help," Scott said desperately.

"Maybe not. Please, tell me why you're here and I'll see what I can do."

"Why would you help us? You don't even know us," he asked.

"Well, I'm hoping you'll tell me the truth about who you are so I can know you, but also," she looked over Scott with a small smile, "the energy of your magic reminds me of the elves. That magic can only be used by people who's hearts are good. I trust the reason for your being here is not to cause harm."

"It's not, honestly." Nat said. "This is my friend, Santa, and I am Mother Nature about fifteen hundred years from now. We've come to find help for our sick friend."

"You're the Mother Nature in the future?" The other woman asked, shocked. She stared at Nat curiously. "Yes... I can sense the residue of Time magic on you. And your energy is very similar to mine. Why would you need to come to this time to cure an illness though? I would think the future would be more equipped to handle diseases."

"It's not a normal sickness," Scott explained, "you see, our friend's an elf and he got sick when he... used Winter Magic."

"What? How?" the other Mother Nature demanded. "Who on earth taught an elf Winter magic?"

"Well um..." he stammered. Scott shared a look with Nat. He wasn't sure how much he should say. Father Time had said not to interfere, but his Mother Nature was willing to spill the truth to this other Legendary Figure. What if they changed something? What if they got _this _Bernard in trouble? Scott was terrified of whatever consequences he might cause if he said too much. Nat gave him a reassuring smile and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. She turned to the other Mother Nature.

"Tilly did. Sometime around now. That's why we're here. We figured since she was the one who taught him originally, she may know how to stop his heart from freezing."

"Who did she teach?"

Scott held up his hand so his friend wouldn't answer. "If we tell you, will he be in trouble?"

The other woman sighed. "Well, no. It's not against the rules for them to know it. It's just, before Tilly, all the other Spirits of Winter listened when I told them their magic was dangerous to the elves. So they stayed away from them. The elves didn't really care because they're very busy creatures and they really don't have time for anything unless it involves their work."

"Why won't she listen?"

"I don't know. She says I'm unfair and that the elves should have just as much magic as us Legendary Figures do. I've told her the elves have their own special kind of magic, magic that even I can't use, but she still says it's wrong. I've tried over and over again to make her understand, but she refuses to listen to my side," the other Mother Nature sighed. "But that's a problem for another time. Please, tell me who she taught. I swear, your friend won't be in trouble. My job is to help the creatures of this world. That's all I want to do.

"It's... Bernard." Scott finally mumbled.

"The Head Elf?" she asked surprised. Scott nodded.

"His heart is freezing," Nat explained. "It's spreading slowly, thank heavens, but it's not stopping."

"So it's not completely frozen yet?" They shook their heads. "Well then you should know the solution. All you have to do is warm it. Use your Summer magic, or have him focus on the things that normally bring him warmth. As long as you do so before he's completely frozen, he should be just fine."

"We've already tried all that. It's not working."

"Hmm," the older woman thought. She let out a puff of breath that floated away in a gentle mist. As the last of it dissipated, the fast forward button of this place was hit again. Light flashed around the three of them as the sun and moon resumed their game of cat and mouse, making Scott feel a little dizzy and sick. The snow dripped and dropped and melted away as the air grew warmer and wetter. The trees bloomed new little leaves and brightly colored wild flowers popped up from the soft, now snow-free ground. A light drizzle fell down from the cloudy sky, the raindrops slowly streaming down their hair and faces, and yet leaving no wetness behind to irritate the Legendary Figures. Time resumed its normal pace again as the other Mother Nature reached out to cup her hand around the delicate white bud of a large bush. "If that isn't working then he must be blocking your magic."

"Blocking it?" Scott questioned.

"Stopping it from doing it's job," she explained.

"Bernard would never do that. He knows how much he means to all of us, he would never just let his heart freeze."

"He might not realize he's doing it. Hearts are strong. They can be broken and cracked again and again and still have the strength to keep us moving. Sometimes though, the fissures left behind can hide pain we don't even realize is there. Something must have happened when he used the Winter magic. It's reminded his heart of some buried pain. Why did he use it? That may help us find out what's causing the Summer magic to be blocked."

"The Spirit of Winter in our time, a man named Jack Frost, played a trick on Bernard and some of the other elves. He trapped them in ice and Bernard thought they were stuck there, so he used the Winter magic to escape, but that was it. None of the elves were hurt by Frost." Nat said.

"Well, that doesn't really tell us anything." Mother Nature mumbled.

"Wait..." Scott thought, face scrunching up in concentration as something Quentin said flitted across his mind. "Maybe... maybe it wasn't why he used it, but the fact that he had to at all."

"What do you mean, Santa?" his friend asked.

"Quentin said Bernard hasn't spoken to Tilly in fifteen hundred years and you saw him, it was like pulling teeth just to get him to mention her at all. What if what's blocking him is the memory of whatever happened between him and Tilly? Maybe they had a fight or something?"

"It would have to be a pretty big fight to cause his heart to block my magic."

"I feel like any fight that makes you stop talking to your best friend for fifteen hundred years has to have been a doozie."

"I agree with Santa. You don't cut friends out of your lives for that long unless something awful happens." the other Mother Nature said.

"Well, I'm afraid that still doesn't help us because Bernard won't talk about Tilly. He's not going to tell us about some fight between them." Nat argued.

"Maybe he doesn't have to." Scott peered down at his watch. The words 36 hours, twelve minutes, fourteen seconds shined up at him in curvy gold script. "I think we still have enough time before we're sent back to try and see this fight for ourselves. If we know what happened, maybe we can help Bernard let go of whatever pain he's holding on to."

"What makes you think the fight is going to happen around now?" she asked.

"Because of what Quentin said. _You know what_ happens around the time Mother Nature finds out Tilly's been teaching the elves Winter magic, and we just told her about it. We have to be near the time of their fight, I can feel it."

"I don't know, Santa..."

"Please? I think we should at least try. For Bernard."

Nat gave him a smile that was both sad and hopeful. "Alright, let's try. For Bernard."

"Well, I'm going to ignore your friend's poor attempt at hiding the future from me. I'm sure your Father Time warned you against interfering with the past, so I understand the secrecy behind whatever _you know what_ is. Instead I'll just wish you good luck. I hope you find what you need to help your friend." the older woman said.

"May I ask you something, Mother Nature, before we go?" Nat said.

"Of course, Mother Nature."

"Just Nat is fine, really, for this trip at least. Better than the confusion of us both answering to Mother Nature." She stepped towards the Legendary Figure, a deep frown on her face. "Winter magic is both enchanting and dangerous. It can bring about the magnificence of a winter wonderland and the destruction of a mighty blizzard all with just one puff of the users frozen breath. So why did you place the weight and responsibility of that power on a child?"

"I... had to," Mother Nature whispered.

"Why? The Legendary Figure's aren't supposed to be that young. There are so many things we're accountable for, not to mention most of us stop aging because of our magic. Why would you allow that poor girl to spend centuries as a teenager? She missed out on so many life experiences she would have had while growing up that could have helped her be an amazing Spirit of Winter."

"I _had_ to," the older woman sighed. She looked up at the still drizzling sky, a cloud of regret passing over her eyes. "It was time to choose a new Spirit of Winter, and Nature was telling me that the next person chosen should be Tilly. She was such a sickly child though, I couldn't sit around hoping that she'd make it to adulthood. You know once the powers of Nature choose the next Spirit, we're not allowed to interfere. It was either give her her powers then and there, or risk loosing the next Spirit of Winter. If that happened, we would have been without one for centuries and that could upset the balance of our world. Believe me, I never would have placed such a burden on that young girl if I didn't feel it was necessary.

"But you're right, Nat. My decision has caused Tilly to miss out on so much. It's no wonder she never listens to me. I do try and help her whenever I can. I suppose I can come off pretty stern, but I feel like that's the only way she ever takes my advice seriously. You know, I was actually coming to see why she had decided to freeze an entire lake in the middle of Spring when I saw the three of you arguing."

"Well, I'm glad you were there, otherwise we'd be ice sculptures right about now," Scott said.

"I'm thankful for that as well, I just... I know it can be difficult walking the line between powerful Legendary Figure and caring friend. I just feel bad for her, is all." Nat mumbled.

"I know. Sometimes I regret not waiting, but I can't go back and change things now." Mother Nature let out a deep sigh. "Well, I've kept you all from your mission long enough. I know you're on a time constraint and I'm afraid, being in this in-between place, time has a tendency to move a little faster than normal. It's night time in this part of the world already."

"I was wondering how we'd lost twelve hours since this morning." Scott grumbled as he tapped at his watch.

"I'll send you back to where I first teleported you. Tilly and Bernard are gone, so you'll have to look for them again."

"Hopefully Bernard won't be too afraid of us now." Nat said.

"Nah, he's a smart guy. I know he'll listen if we just explain ourselves." Scott gave her a hopeful grin.

"Good luck," Mother Nature said as her hand began to glow with the familiar warmth of teleportation magic, "and please, call on me if you have need of me."

*''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''*

Quentin reached into the closet of his best friend's home and pulled out a heavy red and green quilt. The air in the apartment was stuffy from the few electric heaters Mrs. Claus had brought to warm their friend and the stench of sweat and sickness hung heavy in the air. Quentin shut the closet door with a sharp _click_ and then carried it over to Bernard's bed. The head elf's breathing was coming in raspy gasps and that terrible creeping blue was now crawling across his throat and collar bones. Quentin wondered morbidly what it must feel like to have your skin slowly turn to ice.

"Is that the last blanket?" Carol asked him softly. He nodded and handed it over to her. Mrs. Claus spread the cheery quilt over the sick elf. That was the fifth layer they had put on him, and yet Bernard showed no signs of warming up.

"They're going to make it back in time, right?" he whispered. Mrs. Claus stopped fussing with the blankets and reached over to tuck back some strands of hair that had fallen out of Quentin's braid.

"Honestly, I don't know. I'm afraid all we can do is keep our promise to Scott and take care of Bernard as best we can."

"But... if his heart freezes-"

"Don't think about that. Think about all you can do for him to make him comfortable and warm. As long as we have hope, then so does Bernard."

Quentin looked up at her and saw the sincerity in her eyes. "Right. It's just like Christmas magic. As long as you believe in it, it'll be there."

"Exactly," she smiled.

Quentin looked back at his friend. Bernard's face was pale and the rosiness to his cheeks was fading, making the silver specks flecked across them look dull and sad. He reached over and brushed the sweat-damp hair away from Bernard's forehead. _I believe in you, _he thought, _so please get better soon. We need you._


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone! I hope you all have had a great couple of weeks. Sorry it took so long for this chapter. After I posted the last one I decided to give myself a day or two to relax before I started this one, and then next thing I knew two weeks had flown by! Whoopsie!**

**I wanna thank everyone who has read or reviewed and waited so patiently for this chapter. You guys are seriously the BEST and it really makes me smile to know that you guys are enjoying reading this story, because I'm having a lot of fun writing it. :) This story was originally supposed to be only nine chapters long, but after writing this I realized I wanted the climax to kind of have its own separate chapter, so I decided to split chapter eight in half. Which means May You Always will now be a total of ten chapters. I've got to double check some stuff on the outline but after that I've got two days off coming up that I'm gonna spend working on Chapter nine, so be on the lookout for it! As always, if you feel like letting me know your thoughts on the chapter go ahead and leave a review. I love reading them :) But if you don't, that's totally okay, just enjoy the reading!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause series.**

As the teleportation magic faded away, Scott proudly managing to not lose his footing as he was deposited into the grassy meadow from before, he heard Mother Nature let out a desperate huff.

"Everything okay?" He asked her.

She shook her head as she worried her bottom lip. "It's just... we're running out of time and we don't _really _have any idea how to help Bernard. I mean, yes we can try and see this fight between him and Tilly and we can try and help him get over whatever he's holding onto back home, but there's no guarantee it will work. We can't _force_ his heart to heal. That's something he has to decide to do all on his own."

"He will—"

"You don't _know_ that, Santa. And if he doesn't get over this, the elves are going to need a new Head Elf. And while I have complete confidence in Curtis, Bernard has been the Head Elf since... well, forever almost. It'll take years to get the other elves accustomed to life without him and that could have a horrible impact on Christmas and your magic!"

"Well, first of all. We don't need to make him 'get over' anything," Scott stressed. He placed his hands reassuringly onto Nat's shoulders. "Trust me, you don't 'get over' pain. You learn from it, and you heal. Big difference."

"Of course, you're right," Nat nodded apologetically.

"Secondly, I really believe this will work. Even if we don't see the fight, we know the problem now. I think, even if we don't find out exactly what happened between him and Tilly, if we talk to Bernard and tell him we want to help him heal from whatever he's keeping from us, he'll listen. He loves the elves and he loves taking care of them. He would never just give up hope and let his heart freeze."

"I just... I feel like I'm failing him. I'm Mother Nature. It's my job to protect the creatures of this world, magical or not. And now when one of the most important magical creatures needs my help, I've got nothing."

"You don't have nothing, you've got me." He gave her shoulders a soft squeeze. "We're gonna figure this out together. I have complete faith in us."

Nat smiled that same sad smile. "I hope you're right."

He gave her one more friendly squeeze and then turned to look around the clearing. The other Mother Nature was right. It was nighttime in this part of the world now. The sky was an inky black, the stars above twinkling like countless golden specks. It was hard to see anything else though. Scott summoned his snow globe of Christmas lights to cut through the darkness.

"How old is Bernard?" He suddenly wondered.

"I don't know. Why?" Nat laughed.

"You said he's been the Head Elf since pretty much forever. I know he's _at least_ fifteen hundred, since he's running around now, but he's definitely older than that."

"Why don't you just ask Bernard?"

"Because every time I do he just laughs at me and tells me to guess. I think he and Quentin have a bet going to see if I'll ever get it right," Scott grumbled.

"Well I'm afraid I can't help you. All I know is that he's been the Head Elf for a very long time."

"Oh well, I'll figure it out one day," he mumbled. Scott motioned for Mother Nature to take the lead. The other Legendary Figure nodded and, after summoning her own bright ball of light to see by, headed down the path they'd taken that morning to reach the clearing. The walk back to the elves' cave was long. Scott lost count of how many times he tripped over an upturned root or the uneven ground. It felt different too. Last time they made their way to the small creatures' home, Scott could feel the magic in the air. Everything, from the creeping vines crawling up tree trunks to the soft verdant moss growing across the large flat rocks on the ground, had buzzed with the presence of supernatural energy. It had reminded him of home and how it felt to walk the workshop at night after a hard day of making toys, the air churning with leftover Christmas magic. Now though, the forest felt empty, and the silence in the night pressed down on them worse than the magic he used to slide down a chimney pipe.

"Something's off..." he whispered.

"You're right," Nat agreed. She stared around the dark forest as they pushed their way through a rather prickly set of bushes that Scott didn't quite remember being there this morning. "The woods have changed."

"What do you mean?"

Nat ignored his question and stopped when they reached the hillside with the large stones. Scott stepped forward to rub his hand along the largest one, but there was no familiar pull. Nat groaned and let her head drop into her hands. "They've left."

"Left?" Scott asked.

"The elves. Bernard must have rounded them all up after Tilly tried to freeze us. I can't feel their presence anymore."

"So, they abandoned their cave then?"

"The forest entirely, it seems. Any sign of their being here has disappeared. I bet that's why the path was so overgrown."

"How are we supposed to find them again? Last time Father Time dropped us near the elves. They could be anywhere now," Scott said, frustrated.

Mother Nature stared up at the slivers of sky peeking through the thick trees. "There might be something I can do. I don't know if I can get an exact location, but if I can locate some sign of their presence, I can at least get us headed in the right direction."

"Sounds like our best shot." Scott muttered, sitting down on one of the large stones. Nat carefully paced back and forth in front of him, her eyes never leaving the sky. From the little light they both carried, Scott could see that her face held a unfocused, faraway look.

The minutes ticked by; Scott actually watched his watch countdown the seconds. The only sound was the crunching of twigs and grass as his friend paced the same line over and over again. Twenty minutes had nearly passed before Mother Nature stopped suddenly to let out a triumphant shout. "I found them!"

"You did?" Scott asked, getting to his feet.

"Yes, and luckily it isn't too far."

"How far away is it?"

"A couple miles. I should be able to teleport us close to wherever they're staying."

And you're sure it's them?" Scott asked moving to stand beside her.

Nat nodded. "I recognize Bernard's energy. It's a good thing we had to look for him earlier, or I might not have been able to. It feels different than his energy in our time."

"I wonder why?"

"Hmm, probably because our Bernard uses Christmas magic. The magic these elves use is really similar, but it's still different."

"Huh. Well, either way, I'm glad you found them. We're down to around thirty four hours now."

Mother Nature grabbed Scott's hand, and then used her magic to teleport them away from the forest. When they landed, the first thing Scott noticed was the sound of crashing waves and the smell of salt water. He held up his snow globe and saw that they were indeed standing on a sandy beach, but he couldn't see much else.

"A beach? That doesn't seem like a very good place for a bunch of elves to hide." He said squinting through the darkness.

"I didn't take us right to them. I figured it wouldn't be the best idea for us to just appear at their camp, not since Bernard might be afraid of us again. Besides, their magic hides their exact location from me if I don't already know where it is. This is honestly about as close as I can get us."

"Well, where do we go from here?"

"The wind coming from the East is carrying a supernatural energy. I think if we head that way, we'll come across wherever they decided to camp out."

The two Legendary Figures made their way across the sand and up a steep rocky hill. It was slow going since they couldn't exactly watch their steps. Scott helped Mother Nature up a particularly slippery part of the hillside and then turned to see what was unmistakably the dark shape of another woods.

"Ugh, great, we get to spend more time tripping over tree roots," he complained.

Mother Nature let out a soft laugh. "Well, the fae do love a good forest. And with how many elves there are they probably can't find too many places that can easily hide them all."

"Good point," Scott mumbled. They headed towards the shadowy mass of trees, Scott holding up his snow globe to try and light their path. These woods were much thicker, like they weren't often traveled by even the humans of this area. Scott growled in frustration as almost every few feet, something caught on his boots and nearly tripped him. Nat tried her best to help. She even used some of her Nature magic to try and get the plants to part for them to make it easier to walk, but the woods seemed determined to fight them. After nearly two hours of traipsing over roots and rocks, Scott motioned for Mother Nature to stop so he could catch his breath.

"You know, I try to stay in pretty good shape, but this hike is killing me," he puffed.

"I know. It's like the woods is trying to keep us away," Nat agreed, looking around. Scott leaned against a thick tree trunk. Despite being a total walking hazard, the forest was peaceful. It was very quiet, except for the occasional call of some nocturnal animal and the creaking of branches as the wind blew gently through the leaves. Scott closed his eyes as he took a moment to relax against the rough bark.

_Ding_.

His eyes flew open to meet the equally surprised face of Mother Nature. They looked around the part of overgrown path they were resting at. Scott tried not to make too much noise. If this was one of the elves passing by, he didn't want to scare them off before getting the chance to talk to them.

The light sounds of careful footfalls reached their ears. It sounded like they were headed right for the Legendary Figures. Nat brought her pointer finger to her lips,motioning for Scott to be very quiet. They waited with bated breath for whoever it was to reach them.

From the soft glow of their magic lights, they saw a head of wavy blonde hair wearing a crown of myrtle push its way through the thick underbrush.

"Scott, Nat?" a soft voice asked.

"Maerwynn!" Scott greeted, smiling at the shorter girl.

"I though I felt your presence. Why are you here?" the elf wondered with a frown.

"We came to talk to Bernard," Mother Nature explained.

Maerwynn shook her head. "That's not gonna happen. He was really upset when he came back from meeting with Tilly today. He told me you guys played a mean joke on him."

"What? No, we didn't!" Scott denied.

"Bernard wouldn't lie." Maerwynn's frown deepened as she placed her hands firmly on her hips.

"I didn't say he did—"

"We had a bit of a misunderstanding with him and Tilly today, that's all," Nat interrupted as she leaned down to be on the elf's level. "We followed you guys here because we wanted to apologize and explain ourselves. We're not trying to cause trouble, I swear."

Maerwynn didn't really look like she believed them. Scott rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "Please Maerwynn? I know you don't know us very well, but this is really important."

She sighed and looked back towards the direction she came from. "I want to believe you guys are nice people, because my magic tells me you are, and it's usually never wrong. But Bernard was really upset today."

"So, you won't take us to him?" Nat asked sadly.

"I... I guess I could. If you promise to apologize! Bernard seemed to really like you guys at first, so if it was a misunderstanding then I think he'd like to know."

"Thanks, Maerwynn! We really appreciate this," Scott smiled at her.

She returned his smile tentatively. "Why don't you both rest here for the night. Everyone is sleeping right now, so that's how I was able to sneak away to see if it was you. I'll come get you in the morning."

Scott and Mother Nature shared a look before nodding at the elf.

"Sounds like a plan."

Maerwynn left them soon after, so Scott and Mother Nature settled down to call it a night. Scott pulled out the leather bundle so they could eat something, and then removed the velvet bag as well so he could spread his coat on the ground for Mother Nature to use as a bed. He felt a little pang of guilt when he saw the pouch, Bernard's frightened expression flashing across his minds eye. He really did want to apologize for scaring his friend, not just because they needed to try and see this fight between him and Tilly, but because Scott didn't want Bernard to think he was wrong for trusting them. That sounded like something that might affect him in the long run. Scott didn't want to change anything in the past, especially negatively. He just wanted to help Bernard.

The night passed slowly. Scott kept waking every few hours whenever a noise in the trees would sound too close to their makeshift camp. Nat had assured him they'd be fine, that any animals would sense her and be compelled to leave them be, but Scott had always hated camping so her words weren't very comforting. When dawn finally came, he gently shook Mother Nature awake so they could eat some breakfast and wait for Maerwynn to arrive.

The sun had been in the sky for a little over an hour when they finally heard the light footsteps of their friend. Maerwynn pushed her way through the bushes and stopped to stand in front of them. Scott could tell from her expression that something was wrong.

"Everything okay?" He asked before she could even open her mouth.

The elf frowned down at the ground. "No. I'm sorry, Scott, but Bernard's already left this morning."

"What?" Mother Nature's shoulders dropped in defeat.

"As soon as he woke up this morning, he got a message from Tilly saying she needed to meet him. I don't know what for, but it must have been important because he left almost immediately. I don't know when he'll be back, so I don't think you'll get to apologize to him today."

"No, no it _has_ to be today," Scott said desperately.

"Why?" Maerwynn wondered a little suspiciously.

"Uh, because..."

"We have to leave to go back home tomorrow morning, and we're not sure when we'll be able to come back to see you guys. We really wanted to patch things up with him before we had to go." Mother Nature lied smoothly.

"Oh..." Maerwynn worried her lip. "I-I'm not sure how to help you."

"Do you have any idea where he might have gone to meet her?" Scott asked.

"Not exactly. Tilly moves around a lot, like us. There's a few places they like to go to play, but I don't know which one they would have gone to, or even if they went there at all."

"Can you tell us where these places are? We'll check them all."

Maerwynn hesitated. "Okay... but don't tell Bernard I told you. He said he didn't want any of us talking to you guys anymore."

"Deal."

She gave them a list of places Bernard and Tilly were most likely to be. Thankfully, Mother Nature was able to get a general idea for them all from the elf girl's descriptions. Scott checked his watch and saw they had less then twenty four hours remaining. He hoped they could find Bernard soon, because they were running out of time to see this fight between him and Tilly. After saying goodbye to their friend, Nat teleported them to the closest areas first. They checked the same meadow where they first met Tilly, but there was no sign of them. After that, they went to a beautiful lake Maerwynn said the two friends liked to skate at, but still nothing. Scott suggested they try the more distant places next, so they checked a beach, another forest, and even stopped briefly in Constantinople because Tilly apparently liked to play pranks with her Winter magic in the city. Scott made a mental note to tell Carol about everything they saw, but he was still disappointed as every place they tried showed no signs of the Head Elf.

When they landed near the edge of a grassy valley, Scott checked his watch. It was past noon now. He let out a frustrated groan. They were wasting the day with all this jumping around. Scott wondered suddenly how his Bernard always knew how to find him whenever he needed something. Like when he had to collect Scott on Thanksgiving his first year as Santa Claus. Bernard had somehow just known that he was at Laura and Neil's. Why couldn't Scott do that now?

"Or did he just check all the places he thought I might be at too?" He muttered to himself.

"What?" Nat asked, turning to him in confusion.

"Nothing, sorry, just talking to myself." He looked around the area. In front of them was the valley with grass that reached above his knees and behind was a dense woods leading up the mountainside. "See any sign of them?"

Mother Nature let out an irritated huff. "No. I don't think this is the right place—"

_Ding_.

They froze and stared at each other with comically wide eyes.

"Do you think that's—"

"Maybe?"

Voices floated up from a path to their left. Scott, suddenly panicking about what would happen if Tilly saw them waiting for Bernard, grabbed Mother Nature's hand and pulled her into the shelter of the trees. They hid in the shadows as two figures rounded a hill and stepped into the tall grass.

"Are you ever going to tell me what you wanted this morning? Your message was so... cryptic," said a voice that was unmistakably Bernard's.

"I will soon! Why, don't you like spending time with me?" Tilly teased.

Bernard's already rosy cheeks flushed even brighter. "You know I do. I just... the elves and I have a lot of ground we need to cover today so I can't be gone from them for much longer."

"You know, it'd be a lot easier for you guys to move around if you just taught the other elves how to teleport."

"I already told you," the Head Elf sighed in a way that told Scott he was about to say something he'd already said countless times before, "teleportation takes a lot of magic. The other elves don't have it to spare. Most of their magic is spent keeping themselves young and doing their good deeds."

"See, that doesn't make any sense to me. _You_ have enough magic to teleport."

"Because I'm the Head Elf."

Tilly shrugged. "So they picked you to be in charge. I don't see how that gives you more magic than the rest of the elves."

"You know that's not what that means. I've already explained the nuances of elven hierarchy to you. Do you really want me to do it again?"

Tilly rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but didn't answer. Bernard huffed and placed his hands on his hips. "Tell me what you wanted to talk about."

"I've made a decision, an important one," she said.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to teach the other elves Winter magic," she grinned. Bernard stared at her. Scott knew his friend well enough to know that the boy in front of him was carefully controlling his emotions so that nothing showed on his face before he was ready. It was something Bernard did when he thought the person he was talking to wouldn't like what he was about to say.

"Why," he asked slowly.

"What do you mean why? It's time, don't you think?" The Head Elf didn't answer. Tilly frowned. "What? You don't think so?"

"It's just... the other elves are kind of scared of Winter magic."

"Why? There's nothing wrong with it," Tilly scoffed.

"No, I know there's not. It's just... Winter magic kind of..."

"Kind of what?"

"Well... it hurts, Tilly."

Tilly spluttered in disbelief. "No it doesn't. Winter magic is important, just like all the other kinds of Nature magic. How can you say that?"

"I'm not saying it's not important." Bernard held up one of his hands and summoned a glistening ball of snow. Scott watched as the elf's fingers started to turn that frightening shade of blue, frost creeping across the skin the longer he held the frozen object. "But this, it hurts to do it. I'm used to it by now, but the other elves don't like even seeing it. It scares them. We have to stay warm for our magic to work so anything that threatens that worries them."

He let the snowball drop to the ground with a soft thud. Bernard closed his eyes, and the Legendary Figures watched as the blue receded until finally disappearing entirely. Scott looked at Nat in surprise. It seemed like Bernard did know how to cure himself of the freeze Winter magic left behind. So this time's Mother Nature must have been right. Their Bernard must be blocking the magic from working.

"I can teach them how to stay warm the same way I taught you. It'll be fine," Tilly argued with a dismissive wave.

"Tilly, I know you mean well, but I don't think you should," the Head Elf said with a sigh. "What if something happens and they can't keep themselves warm. It's too risky."

"So, you're just gonna let them stay in danger?" She stomped her foot in frustration.

"Danger? What danger?"

"Danger like those two people who tricked you yesterday!" She yelled. "What if they had used that iron on one of the other elves? They could have been seriously hurt with no way to protect themselves!"

"We're not completely helpless just because we don't use powerful magic like yours," Bernard growled. "And besides, I never would have let anything happen to the other elves. It's my job to protect them."

"Well you're not doing a very good job! You didn't even know they had that iron!"

Scott nearly gasped when Tilly said that. If there was one thing Bernard was the most serious about, it was his duty to the other elves. He always put them first, no matter what, and he didn't like it when people questioned his ability to protect his friends.

Bernard's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It's not my fault I didn't know the iron was there. They knew magic, so they obviously used some of it to keep it hidden from me. That's beside the point, though, because I said no. I don't want you teaching Winter Magic to the other elves."

"You can't tell me what to do, Bernard. I'm a Legendary Figure."

The Head Elf stood straight and tall, his expression brooking no argument. "And I'm the Head Elf. What _I_ say goes when it comes to the elves and I said no."

The air around them began to drop in temperature. Scott looked at Mother Nature again, wondering if they should step in and calm the two friends down. Nat just shook her head at him. _Right_. Observe, don't interfere. If this was the fight, they had to let it play out.

"I know what this is really about. You just want to keep the Winter magic all to yourself. You like being stronger than the other elves."

"It's not about being stronger. I've already explained to you what it means to be the Head Elf several times. Your problem is you never listen!"

"No, the problem here is you're selfish!"

"_Selfish_?"

"Yeah! If you weren't, you'd actually care about the other elves and you'd want them to know how to protect themselves!"

That was the last straw, Scott knew it. Bernard's eyes flashed with the temper he was so well known for back at the North Pole. "_Enough_! They are _my_ elves and I said no! You are not going to teach them Winter magic!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tilly screamed. Quicker then anyone could have expected, Tilly sent out a blast of frozen air. It hit Bernard head on, causing the elf to stumble backwards and fall hard onto the ground. Tilly disappeared in a swirl of ice and wind. Scott flew from the trees, Mother Nature right beside him, and sprinted towards his friend.

"Bernard! Are you okay?" He shouted. The Head Elf looked up at the Legendary Figures in fearful surprise.

"W-what are you two doing here?" He asked.

"We came to talk to you," Nat said as she knelt down beside him. Tilly's blast had struck Bernard along his face and chest. Ice was slowly forming over his cheeks and neck. Bernard shivered against the creeping cold. "Don't move, okay?"

Mother Nature held up her hand, a bright ball of Summer magic forming in her palm. She held it close to the elf's face. Bernard squinted against the heat of it, but remained still. Scott watched, relieved, as the hot energy melted away the ice and brought the rosy blush back to the Head Elf's cheeks. Once all of it was gone, Nat moved her hand away and stared worriedly at their friend.

"You okay?" Scott asked again.

Bernard nodded as he glared at them. He asked again, "what are you doing here?"

"We came to talk to you," Scott answered.

"Why?"

"To apologize."

"Apologize for what? Tricking me into thinking you were nice people?" The elf growled.

"We weren't trying to trick you, Bernard," Mother Nature said.

"I'm not stupid, I saw that iron you were carrying around. You can't lie to me."

Scott sighed and gave the boy a sad look. "You're right, we shouldn't lie. We did have that iron with us to use in case we needed it. But I _swear _Bernard, it was never our intention to actually hurt you with it. I would never want to cause you or any of the elves pain. I promise."

"Then why did you have it?"

"A... friend of ours said you and the other elves were really skittish, and that you might not help us. He gave that to us as a last resort in case you refused to talk to us." Mother Nature explained. "But Scott is right. We didn't want to use the iron."

Bernard looked like he wanted to believe them, but was afraid to. Scott gently put his hand on the elf's shoulder. "I promise, buddy, we are not now, or ever, going to hurt you or any other elf. And we're sorry we scared you and made you feel like you can't trust us. We never meant for that to happen."

The Head Elf relaxed a little under Scott's touch. "Fine. Just don't do it again."

"We won't, promise." Scott stood up and the held out his hand for Bernard to grab so he could help pull the boy to his feet. Mother Nature stood too and gave the boy a quick once-over to make sure she hadn't missed any ice. Scott looked over at frozen blades of grass left from Tilly's abrupt departure. "That was some fight the two of you had."

Bernard shrugged. "Eh, we've had worse before. We just need a few days away from each other to cool off. Everything will be fine after that."

"Really?" Scott asked. He shared a look with Mother Nature. Scott was hoping that was the fight that caused the two friends to quit speaking to each other, but it seemed like Bernard didn't think it was that big a deal. If this wasn't what caused the pain in his friend's heart, then he didn't know what to do. Yes, he told Mother Nature they didn't need to know to help their friend, but it would still be a lot easier if they knew what exactly Bernard was keeping from them.

"I guess I should say sorry too," the elf said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Whatever for?" Mother Nature asked.

"Because I couldn't get you Tilly's help for your friend. And now that she's mad at me, there's no way she's going to listen to anything you have to say."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, buddy. The past... uh I mean, _Mother Nature _gave us some advice that we think is really going to help him," Scott said.

"She did? Good! I was kind of worried about your friend." Bernard smiled at them and opened his mouth to say something else, but he stopped suddenly and looked off towards the path he came from earlier, a deep frown appearing on his face.

"Bernard?" Mother Nature tilted her head at him in worry.

"The elves..." he mumbled

"What about them?"

Bernard's bright brown eyes clouded over with a faraway look. Scott felt a knot of unease form in the pit of his stomach. He'd seen that look on the Head Elf's face only once or twice the entire time he'd known him, and it was when one of their field elves had missed their check-in. It was never anything serious, normally just an adult who somehow saw past the magic and noticed a "child" running around without a parent, so they'd informed a teacher or police officer. But, it meant Bernard using the special magic only he had as the Head Elf. It meant countless hours searching through the faces of a city until he found the one he wanted.

It meant someone was missing.

"I... I have to go," he said a little dreamily. Scott remembered it sometimes took the elf a few minutes to come out of the magical trance. The knot twisted in worry, giving him the strangest sensation that it might not be good for the boy to go alone.

"You know what, why don't we take you back to the others." Scott insisted, placing a firm hand on the Head Elf's shoulder. Nat looked at Scott in concern, clearly confused about Bernard's sudden strange behavior.

"I don't..." Bernard shook his head to clear away the last traces of fuzziness.

"Don't what?" Nat asked.

Bernard shook his head harder, eyes blown wide with fear. He looked up at the Legendary Figures and Scott felt the knot solidify into a heavy stone of dread.

"I don't know where they are!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine my lovelies! Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. There's only one more after this. I'm so thankful for everyone who decided to come along on this little journey into the Santa Clause universe with me :). So, onto reading darlings, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause series.**

Bernard's breaths started to come in horribly panicked gasps. He was staring up at the sky, his eyes fading in and out of focus as he started searching for the elves again. "I don't understand. T-this shouldn't be possible!"

"Whoa, whoa, take a second to catch your breath, buddy. We'll find them! Maybe they decided to move on their own?" Scott said as soothingly as he could, but Bernard just shook his head fiercely.

"No! They would never do that. I've told them countless times before, we have to stick together so no one gets left behind. And even if for some ridiculous reason they didn't listen to me and left, I would still be able to find them. I can _always_ find my elves!"

Scott knelt down so he could bring the Head Elf's focus to him. Bernard looked like he couldn't decided whether to cry or scream at this terrible situation. Scott motioned for the boy to mimic his breathing, and started taking slow, even breaths. The elf tried his best to copy him, and it worked for the most part, but Scott could tell the panic was just around the corner, waiting to strike again.

Mother Nature came forward and smoothed back some of the boy's curls with gentle, reassuring fingers. "Don't worry, Scott and I are going to help you look for them. Can you think of any reason your magic might not be working right now?"

"U-um..." he hesitated, "not really. The only way my magic wouldn't work on them is if there was some stronger magic blocking me."

"Who would want to block your magic?" Scott asked, confused.

"I don't know! I mean, the only people who would even know they could are the Legendary Fig—"

Bernard stopped suddenly, as realization lit his face. He was still for a moment, and then his eyes were blown wide again, this time from the ferocity of his temper. He shrugged away from the Legendary Figures and moved towards the path he'd used to enter the valley.

"_Tilly_!" He growled. "_This isn't funny_!"

"You think Tilly did this?" Scott gasped, getting to his feet.

Bernard spun on his heel to face them again. The scowl on his face reminded Scott so much of their Bernard back home, when Scott first met him, and the elf had been so annoyed with him for not understanding the rules of The Santa Clause. "Of course she did. She knows her magic is stronger than mine, and if she uses it just right, I can't see through it. She's probably playing some stupid prank to get back at me for telling her no."

"This is kind of a dangerous prank. You're the Head Elf, you're supposed to know where the other elves are at all times." Mother Nature said, a stern glare in her eyes.

"I know, which is probably why she's doing it, but I'm not gonna let her get away with it. I have to go find them and tell her off."

"Do you think they're still where you left them," Scott asked.

"No, I felt them move before I lost them. She must have waited to use her magic so I would know what she was doing."

"Well, we're still coming with you."

"Oh, you two don't have to do that—"

"Nonsense," Mother Nature interrupted. She motioned for both Scott and Bernard to take her hands. "You and the other elves are our friends, and you don't leave friends in their time of need. Just tell me where you left them, and I'll take us there."

Bernard gave the Legendary Figures a grateful smile and walked over to take the taller woman's hand. Scott grabbed the other one as well and then with a quick description of the elves last known location, the three of them were off.

Scott wasn't expecting the mess they landed in to be so awful.

The elves had apparently found a nice little clearing in that deep overgrown woods for their temporary home, with enough space for several campfires and plenty of bright warm sunlight. That is not what the three friends found though. Bernard let out a whimper of shock at the cold, icy forest they landed in. The grass was completely covered with at least half a foot of snow. The trees surrounding them were frozen root to treetop, with thick dangerous icicles hanging from the branches. No fires were burning in their pits, instead the partially used logs were coated heavily with frost. Scott looked around for any sign of the other elves, but he didn't see anything.

"T-this is..." Mother Nature spluttered in disbelief, "the amount of Winter Magic she had to use to do all this..."

"Would have been more than enough to block my magic," Bernard muttered weakly.

Scott looked down at the shorter boy and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, it's okay, we're going to find them. Tilly can't have gone far since she's leading all the elves."

Bernard nodded, but he wouldn't meet Scott's eyes and he picked nervously at his fingernails. Scott gave the elf one more supportive squeeze, and then moved away to start searching for any clues that would lead them to the other elves. He checked around the old campfires, in the trees, and even flipped over a few large stones to see if any messages about their destination were left, but there wasn't much here besides snow and ice. Scott knelt down near a particularly dense section of underbrush. Beneath the prickly branches he found a trail of frost. He got to his feet and walked around the bushes to follow it. The thin layer of ice led deeper into the woods. Scott let out a relieved sigh and turned back to his friends.

"I've got something!" He called. Bernard and Nat hurried over to him.

"What is it?" Mother Nature asked.

"There's a trail of frost leading further into the forest. I bet it's leftover from the magic Tilly is using to keep Bernard blocked."

"Makes sense," she agreed. The three friends walked around the thorny underbrush so they could begin following the path. Bernard led them, his eyes roving the woods for any sign of his elves. They walked for over an hour, at one point having to stop so Scott could help the Head Elf catch his breath when the panic struck again. Mother Nature even tried to narrow down their search by looking for Tilly's supernatural signature, but the storm of energy the teenage girl was using was affecting the Legendary Figure's abilities as well.

The heavy ball of worry that had sat in Scott's stomach since he first saw the elf's eyes glaze over with magic was making his insides twist uncomfortably. They had less than a day left before Father Time's magic wore off and they were whisked away back home. Scott had a strong inkling that the fight Bernard and Tilly were about to have when they found the others was definitely going to play a part in whatever scar was blocking their friend's heart, but there was still this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was missing something obvious. He thought about his sick friend as they searched. Bernard hadn't seemed like he was holding onto anger or anything. It was more like... pain. Devastation, even. Like something between him and Tilly had taken a hammer to his heart and he'd never put the pieces back together all the way.

His head told him a prank wouldn't do that. He knew Bernard, and he knew eventually the Head Elf would have forgiven her. It might have taken a very long time, but even centuries later, it would have happened. So, why didn't it?

"Do you hear that?" Nat said suddenly, stopping in her tracks as she gazed at the trees surrounding them. Bernard and Scott both stopped as well, trying to be as still as possible as they listened for whatever noise had caught the Legendary Figure's attention. Somewhere in the nearby distance, there was a murmuring, like a bunch of small voices arguing with each other. The three friends shared a hopeful look, before taking off in the direction of the noise.

The branches and brush of the forest snagged and ripped at their clothes and arms as they ran, but they pushed passed it. The frost trail led them up a steep hill, so they climbed, Scott's lungs burning as they sprinted the rest of the way through the woods. The air felt colder on this hillside, and he vaguely noticed that his gasping breaths were misting in front of his face. When they could finally see the light of the afternoon sun breaking through the foliage, Scott felt a burst of desperate energy. He tore through the last few feet of forest, squinting at the daylight as he rounded the hilltop and found himself standing in a wide open area. It was beautiful up here. You could see the deep dark woods below, tall trees surrounding you on all sides. Up above was a perfect view of the expansive sky, which was a swirl of bright blue and fluffy white clouds. Scott didn't pay too much attention to that, though. All he saw was the sparkling white of the snow covered ground and the dozens of surprised faces as the rest of the elves stared at their arrival.

"Bernard!" one elf shouted when he finally saw the flushed face of the Head Elf. The sound of his name caused a ripple effect among the other magical creatures. They all started yelling his name and running forward, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of happy and frightened cries.

"Are you all okay?" Bernard asked, leaning forward to fuss over the closest ones.

"We're fine!"

"Nuh uh! Some of us were scared!"

"Tilly just came out of nowhere and said you wanted us to leave!"

"What were you scared for, all we did was walk to this place?"

"Why did you want us to leave without you?"

The questions mashed together as each elf clamored for Bernard's attention. Scott waited for his friend to answer so the other elves would calm down, but the boy was silent. He leaned down to peer at Bernard, wondering why the Head Elf wasn't speaking. The boy's eyes had that same faraway look from before, but this time his face was free of the terrible worry. Instead it held a strange deliberateness. Scott held his breath, realizing that Bernard was checking the face of each elf in his mind, making sure that everyone was accounted for. Bernard raised his gaze skyward as focus slowly started to return to his eyes.

"Who..." he said in that strange dreamy voice. The other elves immediately fell silent to give Bernard time to free himself of the magic trance. The Head Elf cleared his throat and shook his head. "Who is missing?"

Bernard's voice was dangerously low, like his panic and fear had left him to be replaced by calm anger. This was the Bernard that Scott relied on during the crunch time at the North Pole, when usually everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. This Bernard brooked no nonsense. Scott shared a worried look with Nat. This Bernard would only be here if a line was officially crossed, which apparently it had been because one of the elves was not here waiting for them. And since Tilly was not here either, it was obvious she was the reason why.

"_Who_ _is missing_?" he asked again.

"Michayl," muttered a dejected voice. Scott looked up to see Maerwynn pushing her way to the front of the crowd. She had a deep frown on her young face.

"Why isn't he here?" Bernard asked. "And why did you all leave camp? I've told you never to do that!"

Maerwynn sighed. "Tilly showed up, saying you wanted her to move us because you were afraid Scott and Nat would come looking for the elves. And she used her Winter magic to to hide us so _they _couldn't use their magic to find our location. I told her that we're not supposed to leave without you, but she said she was in charge. I'm sorry, I should have argued for us to stay at the camp more but... she's a Legendary Figure. I didn't think I could."

"And Michayl?"

"I'm not exactly sure?" the elf girl shrugged, "I heard Tilly say something about teaching him something really cool that you know how to do, but they teleported away after that."

Bernard froze, eyes wide. Scott felt the knot of worry in his stomach leap into his throat. Something that Bernard knew how to do? There was only one thing that Tilly could teach that the Head Elf knew.

Nat stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "Did you hear where they were going, Maerwynn?"

"North? Sorry, that's all I know."

"Okay," Mother Nature gently turned Bernard to face her. "I will use my magic to find Tilly, and then the three of us will go get Michayl back."

"I don't understand, Nat. Why is she doing this? I know Tilly's stubborn, but she normally listens to what I have to say," he whispered.

"I'm afraid this may be our fault. Scott and I must have frightened her with that misunderstanding yesterday, and so now she's not thinking clearly."

"But don't worry, buddy," Scott said, giving the elf a hopeful smile, "he'll be okay."

The elves gave Mother Nature room to pace as the taller woman began searching for Tilly and Michayl. The minutes crawled by, and with every passing one Scott felt his heart hammering in his chest faster and faster. This whole situation seemed crazy. A missing elf? Why hadn't their Bernard warned them about this? A part of Scott wondered if maybe they _had_ inadvertently changed something, and now they were dealing with the consequences. He kept telling himself that everything would be fine, that Nat would find the Spirit of Winter and Scott and her would be able to explain to Tilly that the elves were safe. That she should listen to Bernard when he said the other magical creatures didn't need to be taught Winter magic. He told himself this, but he knew deep down in the pit of his stomach, he didn't quite believe it.

"I found them!" Mother Nature called. Bernard and Scott ran forward, the other elves crowding around them. "Thankfully she didn't take him too far. And she doesn't seem to be trying to block anyone anymore."

"Then let's go!" The Head elf pressed his hands into the Legendary Figure's.

Nat nodded, and Scott felt the sudden harsh pull around his navel as the three of them were teleported away from the hilltop.

They landed roughly. Scott assumed it was because Mother Nature was too worried about Michayl to care about making sure their landing was smooth. They were standing near a charming little pond, with thick vegetation growing all around it and small fish swimming lazily in its waters. Thee air here was very chilly, much more so than it should be for a sunny Spring day. Scott's breath misted up in front of him, like steam rising from a teapot.

"Bernard?" A soft voice whimpered.

The three friends turned towards the sound, and Scott felt every hopeful feeling he'd been grasping at shrivel up and crumble away.

Tilly was sitting on her knees on the ground, eyes desperately wide and brimming with tears. There were patches of snow surrounding her, half melted and muddy looking from dirt. She'd removed her cloak, and had it carefully wrapped around a lumpy figure resting in her lap. Scott saw a frost tipped brunette head peaking out from underneath the thick wool.

"Michayl," Bernard choked out. He ran to them, Nat and Scott right at his heels. The Head Elf threw himself onto the ground beside the teenage girl and, ignoring her protests, ripped the cloak away from the boy.

Michayl's skin was that horrible shade of dark blue. It covered both his arms, his neck, and even his bare feet. Ice clung to him in heavy clumps, and his fingers looked painfully stiff with a layer of frost folding itself into the wrinkles on his hands. His face was splotched with the creeping Winter magic and his breath was coming in slow rasps, like every inhale and exhale was tearing at his throat. The skin that wasn't frozen yet was as white as freshly fallen snow. Bernard reached forward to gently cup his face.

"I... I don't understand. Why has this spread so fast?" the Head Elf whispered. Nat stared at the half frozen elf, her face fierce with determination. She knelt down beside them and promptly pulled Michayl away from Tilly, ignoring the younger girl's shocked spluttering. Mother Nature cradled him in her right arm, propping the boy's head on her shoulder, and then with her free hand she summoned the brightest ball of Summer magic Scott had yet to see. It filled the air around them with an incredible heat, so much so that Scott could almost feel sweat beading along his hairline. She held it over Michayl's chest, and immediately the blue started to recede. Scott released a huge breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.

"Nat?" Bernard muttered.

"It was probably because he was scared. I know from experience that the first time you see Winter magic's effects, it can be pretty terrifying. He was probably so frightened, his heart couldn't hold onto any of its warmth. And if there's nothing to keep the freezing at bay, the Winter magic spreads faster." Mother Nature explained.

"I-is he gonna..."

"He'll be fine. It hadn't reached his heart yet. All we have to do its warm him back up, and he'll be good as new."

Bernard took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, his eyes never leaving the other elf. Scott could see the relief on his face at Mother Nature's words. Bernard had always cared so deeply about the other elves. Scott was glad they'd gotten here on time. He didn't know what he'd do if they hadn't.

"Well," said Tilly as she stood from the ground, "thanks for helping, and at least now I know in the future to warn about the freezing. That way next time, no one gets scared and causes this to happen again."

Bernard's head snapped around to face her so fast, Scott was surprised the elf didn't hurt himself. His face flushed crimson with sudden rage and he jumped up into Tilly's personal space, stumbling a little as he surged forward barefoot into an almost completely melted snow pile.

"Next time? _Next time?_ You actually think there's going to be a next time? You hurt someone, Tilly! Michayl is an _elf_, his heart has to stay warm to survive, and you almost _froze _it. He could have _died!_"

"N-no he wouldn't have!" Tilly stuttered, backing away from her angry friend. "My heart is frozen and I didn't di-"

"That's because you're a Legendary Figure! And you were human before you got your magic! Elves are different! I've told you this a million times. But no, if it doesn't really involve you, you don't even bother to listen. You called me selfish? _You _are the most selfish person I have ever met!"

"I am not!"

"Yes you are, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize it! I mean, you _took_ the elves from me, and then _blocked_ my magic so I couldn't find them! All because I told you I didn't want you teaching them Winter Magic? Then you went and did it anyway and look what happened. If Nat hadn't been here then Michayl would have frozen and one of my elves would be _gone._ Did you even bother to think about what that would do to me? The elves are my _whole world, _Tilly. I'm nothing without them."

Bernard's voice broke on that last sentence. Scott saw frustrated, heart broken tears gathering in the boy's eyes, just moments from spilling over. Tilly was shaking her head furiously, lower lip trembling and her own eyes storming with emotions. She had stopped backing away, and now seemed rooted to the spot by her friend's gut wrenching shouts.

"I-I just thought I could prove to you that you needed my help. I love the elves, Bernard. I would never do anything to hurt them!"

"You just did!" he roared. "And do you even realize how scared you made some of the others? What if the little ones had gotten lost while you forced them to move? What if a human had found them? They're too young to hide their presence! Who knows what would have happened if some human had seen them and realized they were magical!"

"I wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't what? Let that happen? You almost let Michayl's heart freeze!"

"It was an accident! And he's going to be fine!"

"_I don't care!" _The tears spilled now, pouring down his cheeks and dripping off his chin. His breaths were coming in heavy gasps. "You know what? I-I can't risk this again. I _won't_ let you do this again. You need to stay away from us."

"W-what?"

"Stay away from the elves! I _never_ want to see you near us ever again!"

"You can't do that!" Tilly cried.

"_Yes I can!_ I am the _Head Elf. _What I say goes when it comes to the elves and I say you are never ever allowed to come near us from now on!"

"Bernard-"

"No! I won't let anyone else get hurt!" He backed away from her as he scrubbed his tunic sleeve over his wet cheeks. "You need to leave."

"But..."

"LEAVE!" he screamed. Tilly let out a final sob, before snatching her cloak up from where it lay in the dirt and then disappearing in a whirlwind of snow and ice. Bernard turned around and then flung himself on the ground beside Nat and Michayl. He pulled off his own cloak and then gently laid it across the slowly thawing boy.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Scott asked softly, kneeling down beside his friend.

Bernard shook his head. "I almost lost one of my elves today, Scott. I... I can't lose any of them. I need them."

"He's going to be alright," Mother Nature whispered.

Bernard wiped at his face again, trying to rid his cheeks of any remaining wetness. "I want to believe you, but it's hard to when I look at him and all I see is that horrible blue color."

"That will fade as he finishes thawing. I swear, he's going to be just fine."

Bernard opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment there was a burst of warmth and light from behind them. They all looked to see the past Mother Nature, standing tall and proud, smiling sadly at them. She walked forward so she could peer down at the elf in Nat's arms.

"My my, when I felt that disturbance in the air, I had no idea it'd be this serious. What happened?"

"T-tilly tried teaching Michayl Winter Magic," Bernard explained, "Nat said he probably got scared when he tried it, and it froze him."

"I see. His heart?"

"Untouched," Nat said, the ball of Summer magic still shining brightly in her hands. "I'm just thawing him now, but once I'm finished he should be fine."

The other woman nodded, and then motioned for Bernard to scoot over so she could kneel in front of the injured elf. "I thank you for your help, Nat, but let me take it from here. I can take Michayl back to my forest and finish healing him their. It should only take a few hours for him to be up and moving again. In the meantime, I'd like for you and Scott to take Bernard back to the other elves. They're probably worried sick right now wondering what's going on."

Nat looked at Scott, and he knew immediately that she approved of this plan. He nodded, and then helped his friend put Michayl into the other Mother Nature's arms. The older woman smiled, and then stood carefully, making sure not to jostle the hurt boy. Bernard insisted she keep his cloak wrapped around the younger elf, saying it would help comfort Michayl when he was finally free of the Winter Magic. Mother Nature left for her woods then, stating she should be back around sun up the next day.

Bernard let out a shaky breath and gazed up at the Legendary Figures. "Thank you."

Scott gave the boy a one armed hug, smiling sadly down at his friend. "Come on, let's get you home."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everyone! So, it's finally here, the last chapter of May You Always. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. I'm so happy you guys enjoyed reading this. I've had a lot of fun getting to explore these characters and this universe. This started off as a challenge I gave myself to try and finish a whole story in one month, and we didn't make it, but I love how this story turned out regardless. Chapter ten is extra long, and I even have a little surprise for you! I wrote a small epilogue that I will be posting right after this. It's nothing crazy, I just thought it would be a nice way to finish our tale.**

**Just so everyone knows, there is some mention's of pain and allusions to death in the chapter. Nothing graphic, and I honestly don't think they're bad at all, but I care about each and every one of you so please take caution while reading this chapter. **

**Thank you so much again. If you want to tell me your thoughts on our conclusion, I would LOVE to hear them.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause Series.**

Mother Nature teleported them back to the hilltop the elves were now camped at, this time much more gently as Bernard was clearly still upset. The other creatures crowded around their Head Elf at his arrival and peppered him with questions about Michayl and Tilly. The boy told them the truth, or at least most of it, because he'd never liked lying to the elves. He left out the details about how close Michayl was to freezing, but he did let them know he'd been hurt and would be spending the night with Mother Nature as she helped him heal. Bernard also told them that under no circumstances were any of the elves to talk to Tilly again. He said they had fought and now the Head Elf didn't think she should come near them anymore.

Scott could tell by their faces that the others were sad to hear this, he distinctly remembered Quentin saying Tilly had enjoyed playing with all of them when she visited, but they respected Bernard's decision. Afterwards, Bernard insisted the elves move back into the forest, stating the hilltop was too open and any traveling humans could spot them and he was sure they would be curious as to why there was such a large gathering of what looked like small children standing around. Scott and Nat helped the elves gather their belongings, and then they all headed down the other side of the steep hill, away from the trail of frost still glistening on the grass. They walked until they found a place in the woods where the trees were thinner, so there would at least be room for a few campfires. This area was smaller than their last camp, and they didn't have as good a view of the sky, but it would do for the night.

The Legendary Figures helped them find firewood, and Nat helped them start the fires. Scott was impressed with how well built the campfires were, which made his friend laugh and say that she'd always loved camping, she just never really got the time to do it anymore. Night had fallen by the time they were finished setting up the temporary home. Most of the elves decided to head straight to bed, leaving the camp full of the soft snores of people under Sandman's spell, but a few stayed up to keep Bernard and the Legendary Figures company. Scott was worried about the Head Elf. It seemed his fight with Tilly had stolen all his energy. His face was haggard, and there was a deep brokenness in his eyes, like if you looked hard enough you would actually be able to see a spiderweb of cracks. Scott knew the boy's trust had been shattered today, and that was a terrible thing to feel. You should always be able to trust your best friend, but now Bernard couldn't. Scott was sure that was the fight that had ruined the Head Elf and the Spirit of Winter's friendship. He still wasn't sure why it would be blocking the Summer magic from working, but he supposed when he talked with Bernard after they got home, he would understand it more.

The night passed slowly, Scott kept looking at his watch, scowling as the seconds ticked down. He knew he and Nat would have to leave soon, but a big part of him couldn't stand the thought of leaving when one of his dearest friends was so upset. He knew Bernard would be okay eventually, but it was still going to be hard to say goodbye. Scott fell asleep by the dying embers of a campfire long after everyone else and he was the first one out of his friends to wake. The sound of little footsteps is what tipped him back into the world of consciousness. He squinted around the camp, the woods still dark and quiet with only the soft chirps of morning birds and the gentle breaths of sleeping elves to break the silence. The sky above was that pretty dark blue of morning, when the veil of night still clung to the earth, despite the sun's attempts to break through.

He sat up, grumbling a little as his back pinched and creaked in protest for sleeping on the ground for the third day in a row. The steps stopped at his movement. Scott peered around the camp for the noisemaker, wondering what elf could have possibly gotten up before even Bernard. Finally, just off to his right, he saw a tiny dark shape standing very still. He summoned his snow globe, making sure the lights inside were dim enough to not wake the other elves, and looked closer at the culprit.

The freckled face of Tiny Quentin peered back at him, obviously surprised he'd been caught wandering around. Scott smiled at the boy, thinking to himself how funny it was that this time's Quentin willingly got up so early, when back home the boy hated having to get up at six am for work everyday.

"Hey there, bud," Scott whispered into the early morning air, "why are you awake?"

Quentin didn't answer. He just rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment, which for some strange reason vaguely reminded Scott of the younger Bernard, and then continued towards the Legendary Figure. Scott thought for a second Quentin might come sit with him, but then he realized the boy was headed for the Head Elf. He stopped right next to Bernard and then, still without uttering a word, tucked himself into the sleeping elf's arms. Scott saw Bernard's eyes peek open for just a moment, but this must have been a regular occurrence because all he did was adjust the smaller boy into a more comfortable position, and then his eyes were slipping shut again. Scott desperately wished Judy had packed him a camera, because this was possibly one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. Quentin stared at him from his new bed, eyes drifting over to the snow globe. Scott got the message and vanished the light, casting them all into that peaceful darkness again. He thought he heard a tiny, mumbled "Goodnight." Scott smiled and then settled back down to try and catch a little more sleep.

He was awoken by Nat about an hour later. The sun was a little higher in the sky now, so he could at least see around the campsite. Most of the elves were stirring now, except for a few who were stubbornly refusing to start the new day. Bernard was sitting up near Scott, Quentin now happily dosing in his lap, the younger boy's face pressed to the Head Elf's chest and one tiny hand fisted into his tunic. Scott frowned at the look on his friend's face. Bernard was staring around the camp, eyeing each of his elves carefully, that broken look still haunting his normally bright brown eyes.

Nat asked him for the time, and Scott looked down to see that they had about two hours left before Father Time's magic would wear off and teleport them back home. It was time for them to say their goodbyes. He didn't really want to. It was strange, it wasn't like he was never going to see the elves again, but he felt like he'd made a lot of new friends. Even this time's Bernard felt like someone new. He could see some of his Bernard in this boy, but there was still a very childlike quality to the Head Elf right now, and Scott was going to miss that. His friend back home was still friendly and kind, except when his temper got the best of him, but he'd lost that special innocence that youth gives you. It'd been snatched away by time, like it was wont to do, and been replaced by the maturity of someone who'd lived for years. Many, many years.

The Legendary Figures made their rounds, saying goodbye to each elf, and leaving a trail of white lies about seeing them again soon. Scott felt a little bad about deceiving them, but Nat insisted it was necessary to keep their cover and that "it's not really a lie, Santa. We'll see them all again when we get home. Besides, it's better to leave them thinking we're around somewhere than have them wondering why we suddenly disappeared."

Maerwynn was very upset that they had to go, but she said she understood they needed to get back to their sick friend. She gave both Scott and Nat a hug, and then wished them a safe journey back. The Legendary Figures turned to face Bernard, whom they had saved for last. He was watching them, a sad, knowing look on his young face. They approached the Head Elf, trying to keep their steps quiet so they didn't wake the sleeping boy in his arms.

"Hey buddy," Scott said, sitting down on his left so his friend wouldn't have to strain his neck looking up at them. Nat took Bernard's other side.

"You're leaving now, aren't you," he mumbled. It wasn't a question. He already knew their answer.

"Pretty soon, yea."

"Okay..." Bernard looked down at Quentin as the younger boy let out a soft snore. He smoothed some of the wispy hairs around his face. "I'll miss you guys. It was really nice meeting you."

"We'll miss you too," Nat sighed sadly. She reached over to gently fix the holly leaves around his ears, which were a little mussed from sleep. They shared a smile.

"Are you going to come back to see us again?"

Scott opened his mouth, prepared to give his friend the same lie they'd given the others, regret stirring in his belly because he knew Bernard would never see the two strangers wearing glamours and wielding magic ever again. He would only see them as Santa and Mother Nature centuries from now. He wondered if his Bernard even remembered the two mysterious people who'd befriended him and then disappeared without a trace days later. Did he still think about them? Maybe Scott would tell his Head Elf about the entirety of this adventure once he was feeling better, in case he needed some closure about what happened to them. "I-I'm sure we'll se—"

"_Bernard_!" One of the elves shouted, interrupting Scott's lie. They looked over to where the call had come from, and saw the past Mother Nature, standing tall and grinning down at the elves around her. Michayl was with her, looking a hundred percent better. The blue color and ice were gone. His skin was its normal healthy tan, and his cheeks were ruddy, the silver specks twinkling happily. He looked over at them, smiled, and pushed his way through the crowd of excited elves to walk over to them.

"Hi," Michayl greeted. Now that he was closer, and his face was no longer partially obscured by ice, Scott recognized the boy in front of him. At least, he recognized the fresh purple bugloss braided into his hair. This was the elf that had entertained the Legendary Figures with stories on their first night in the past. He felt a pang of guilt for not getting the boy's name the first time they met. Scott heard Bernard let out a shaky breath. He peered at his friend, and saw him give the younger elf a watery smile.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" The Head Elf asked.

Michayl shrugged. Scott noticed he was still wearing Bernard's cloak. "Normal, I guess? I'm definitely not cold anymore."

"Good. I'm... really happy you're okay."

The younger elf grinned and then looked shyly over at Nat. "Thanks for saving me, Nat. I'm really grateful you were there."

"I'm just glad you're okay," she said.

"Michayl!" Maerwynn called. He looked over and motioned that he'd be there in just a moment. When he turned back to the three friends, he started shrugging out of Bernard's cloak.

"Keep it on today. Please, for my piece of mind," the Head Elf ordered gently. Michayl nodded, and then after a wave goodbye headed over to where his friend was waiting. Scott heard the boy start to grumble when Maerwynn immediately started fussing over him.

They heard footsteps, and looked up to see Mother Nature approaching them. Her smile was a little diminished now. Instead, a very serious calm was beginning to overtake her face. She looked at Bernard, and then knelt down in front of him, hands settling gently on her knees.

"I thought I should give you an update, though you would have heard about it eventually anyway. The rest of the council will be meeting me tomorrow at Easter Bunny's den. We're going to be discussing Tilly's... punishment."

"Her punishment?" Bernard asked throatily.

"Yes. I sent them all word about what happened yesterday. Father Time sent me notice that he's going to be pushing for her to be banished. I'm not sure how I feel about that... but, if the rest of the council agrees, then I'll give my assent. I wanted to know your thoughts on the matter."

"Why?"

"Because you're the Head Elf, and one of your elves was harmed. Honestly, I'd prefer it if you were there for the meeting, but I understand that you won't want to be away from the others right now. But they need to know your say on what should be done, because it's high time for the rest of the council to understand the damage that could be done to you and inadvertently the others if something happens to one of your elves."

"Damage?" Scott asked.

"It could effect my magic," Bernard answered. He looked down at Quentin, fingers carefully combing the blonde curls again. "It's... tied to every single one of the elves. It's why I have more than they do. Technically speaking, the core of their magic comes from a part of mine. It's why I can use my magic to locate them. Yes they... keep their own strong by doing their good deeds, but if something happens and they can't do what they need to keep their magic burning, they can just take more of mine. But if something happens to one of the elves... i-it's like ripping a part of your soul away. It hurts, _so much_, and it leaves my magic weaker. Which puts the rest of the elves in danger."

"T-the elves are in danger if your magic gets weak?" Scott asked, thinking about everyone back home, and his friend lying sick in bed.

Bernard nodded. "Yes, because if mine's weak, there's gets even weaker. That's why I still haven't found an elf yet to start following in my footsteps, in case for some reason I need to step down as Head Elf. No one wants the responsibility."

Scott almost asked about Curtis, but then remembered he wouldn't have been born yet. The past Mother Nature smiled at the boy. "I think it's also because they don't like to think of a future where you aren't in charge."

"Even I need a break sometimes though," Bernard joked weakly.

"I guess that explains why what you say is the law around here. Can't really argue with the source of your magic," Scott said.

"Yes, even I don't have final say when it comes to the elves, and I'm the head of the Legendary Figures," Mother Nature leaned forward so Bernard would catch her eye again. "Which is why I need your opinion on Tilly's punishment. Your elves, your rules."

Bernard sighed, the brokenness back in his eyes again. It was obvious the boy didn't want to talk about the girl who was supposed to be his best friend. But when you're in charge, you sometimes have to ignore your own pain, so you can set an example for others. Bernard needed to show the elves he wouldn't stand for anything happening to them. "I... I think I agree with Father Time. Tilly crossed a line. She needs to face the repercussions."

"Alright. I'll let everyone know your stance on the matter." She said, nodding. She moved to get to her feet.

"Wait, please, Mother Nature." Bernard mumbled. She stopped, tilting her head in question as she waited for the boy to find his words. "Can you do a favor for me tomorrow, at the meeting?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

Bernard took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly and shakily. "I... I need you to officially forbid the elves from ever using Winter Magic."

There was silence among them. Scott looked over at Nat, who's shocked face he was sure was a mirror of his own. The past Mother Nature was surprised as well. Her mouth was open like she was going to respond, but apparently she couldn't find what words she wanted to say. Bernard avoided their eyes.

"I'm going to forbid it among the elves myself, but my rules only apply to us. I can't make it law in the supernatural world, like you can, so I need you to do this for me. Please."

"_You're_ going to forbid winter magic?" Nat asked. She was still staring at Scott. This was brand new information for them. As far as they knew, it was this Mother Nature's idea for the Winter magic to be forbidden and for Tilly to get banished. Yet, she seemed to be one of the only people against the idea, and _Bernard_ was the one who wanted to make the magic against the rules. Quentin had said Tilly was banished for trying to give the elves more magic, not because she hurt someone. Scott wondered, had the truth been lost to history and that's why their information was wrong, or had they changed things. He hoped it was the former.

"Yes, I am. I don't want any elf at risk ever again." Bernard answered stonily. There was a stirring in the air when he said this, like when you throw a rock into a pond and it causes ripples on the water. Scott felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Some of the elves looked over at them curiously. They'd felt it too, this magic. Scott had seen it only once before, when Bernard had declared to the other elves that Curtis would become his Number Two, his successor for role of Head Elf. It meant the boy was using his powers to create a new rule among the elves. One that could not be ignored. He was putting his foot down, and unless he said otherwise, it would stay this way.

"Alright. I'll make it official with the council. You do realize this means that you are forbidden from using it as well?" Mother Nature said.

Bernard nodded. "I know, but I don't plan on ever using it again, not after yesterday. It... it was my fault Michayl got hurt."

"What? No it wasn't," Nat argued, placing a hand gently on the boy's shoulder.

"It was though." He looked over at the brunet boy, who was now having a large breakfast of different fruits shoved into his hands by his blonde friend. "S-some of the older elves... they know about my using Winter magic. Most of them are frightened of it, but Michayl was one of the ones who wasn't. I know the only reason he agreed to go with Tilly yesterday is because he knew I wasn't afraid to use it. If I had never let her teach me, he never would have nearly froze. I'm to blame for this."

"Bernard, that's not true. You can't control the decisions other people make, and you can't put all the blame on yourself if they make the wrong choice." Scott tried to get his friend to look him in the eye, but the boy refused to meet his gaze. It was clear he wasn't going to take their words to heart.

"You should listen to your friends, they speak the truth." Mother Nature said. Bernard just shook his head. She sighed, and finally got to her feet. "I want to discuss this with you again later. You shouldn't hold on to blame. You don't know how that could affect you down the road. Unfortunately, I need to leave right now. I have a lot of out of season snow to clean up before the meeting, including that large part of the forest that's completely coated in ice. Scott, Nat, it was very nice to meet you. I hope you have a safe journey back and that your friend recovers soon."

"Thank you, it was nice meeting you too," Scott nodded his head at the taller woman. She disappeared in a burst of warm teleportation magic. There was a _ding _from his watch. Scott looked down, confused as to what could have set it off, and saw that they only had about five minutes left. He looked at his two friends sadly. "It's almost time to go."

Bernard hung his head and mumbled, "I'll miss you both. Thank you for being there for me yesterday."

Both Legendary Figures leaned over to envelop the boy in a tight hug. Scott knew he'd see Bernard again very soon, but for the elf, this was a final goodbye. They wanted to make sure he knew they were going to miss him too.

Nat and Scott left Bernard and stepped away from the camp. They'd come to the agreement they didn't want to be sent back in front of the other elves, in case any of them recognized Time magic. Scott counted down the seconds, his hand gripped tightly by Nat. They watch the counter click down to zero and then suddenly they were blinking at the bright colors of the forest. The land around them started to spin, faster and faster and faster, until Scott finally had to squeeze his eyes shut so he wouldn't get sick. He felt that familiar pull around his navel, and then the ground was dropped out from underneath him.

* * *

Scott felt his feet hit the hard wooden floor of his office a moment later. He knew it was his office because he could hear the high-pitched voices of the enchanted puppets screeching in his currently sensitive ears. He opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness, and gazed over at his friend. Mother Nature let go of his hand and reached up to adjust her headpiece, which had been knocked a little askew from the time travel.

"You're back!" said a joyful, rumbly voice. They turned around to see Father Time standing near the fireplace, this time wearing fuzzy robes of mint green and puce. "How was the journey? Did you find the information you needed?"

"We think so," Scott said, still feeling a little dizzy.

"We didn't change anything, did we?" Mother Nature asked.

"No, no, everything in the past, present, and future remains as it was three days ago. And I should know, I am Father Time after all."

Scott let out a sigh of relief. He'd been so paranoid the entire time they were gone that somehow they were going to change something and mess up their future. He was glad that nothing had gone wrong. "Do you know where Bernard is? Is he still at home or did they take him to the Elfirmary?"

"I believe he's still at home. Mrs. Claus and Quentin are there with him." The smile dropped from Father Time's face. "I'm afraid he's not well, Santa."

"He will be soon," Mother Nature said, her face shining with hopeful determination. "Come on, Santa, let's go."

Mother Nature took a moment to rid the Legendary Figures of her glamour and then they flew out of the office and down the long hallway that would take them to the main staircase of the workshop. Scott noticed that every elf they passed on the way looked worn out and pale, like all their energy had left them. He felt his heart stutter as the boy from the past's words echoed through his mind. _The core of their magic comes from a part of mine. _Was this because Bernard had gotten even sicker? Were the other elves fading? Scott moved as fast as his feet would carry him, his breath coming out in great big puffs. He wouldn't let that happen.

"I think you were right to tell us to stay for that fight, Santa. I'm pretty sure I know exactly what's blocking him now." Mother Nature said as they raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Really? What?"

"You heard Bernard. He blames _himself _for what happened to Michayl. I bet he's been carrying around that guilt for fifteen hundred years. That kind of secret would do terrible things to his heart. I bet when he saw how frightened Quentin and Judy were, and when he used the Winter magic, it brought all the terrible feelings he's been burying out in the open again. That has to be what's blocking my magic!"

"By why wouldn't he just tell us about this? I could have told him it wasn't his fault without ever having to go back in time." They were out the front doors now, sprinting towards the Head Elf's tiny apartment.

"Because, look at how much of that situation we have wrong. I never knew that the past Father Time was the one to press for Tilly's banishment, or that Bernard was the one to forbid Winter magic for the elves. I thought the past Mother Nature did all of that, because that's what's written down in the council records. If we had just stayed here and told him it wasn't his fault he would never have believed us because we wouldn't have known the truth." They climbed the rickety stairs to the elf's home and knocked on the front door. Mother Nature looked at Scott, a little out of breath herself. "I bet Bernard wanted us to go because he needed us to see what really happened with our own eyes. That way, we could tell him honestly if we thought he was to blame, and we wouldn't be blinded by our friendship with him. We thought we were going back to find some mysterious cure but—"

"Really we were going back for the truth." Scott finished. He heard footsteps heading towards the door and braced himself for whatever state his friend was in. He thought Mother Nature was right. Bernard had always been stubborn, and logical, and he cared more about what happened to the other elves than anything else. And it wasn't just because their magic was tied to his, no, Scott knew it was because the other elves were like family to Bernard. He loved each and every one of them. So he never would have listened to empty words about how he wasn't to blame for one of them getting hurt. Everything had to be out in the open, and seen with their own eyes. Maybe now that it was, Scott and Mother Nature could help the Head Elf to heal.

Quentin answered the door. His face was pale, just like the other elves, but he had deep bruises of exhaustion underneath his eyes. He seemed shocked to find his boss and the head of the Legendary Council at Bernard's doorstep, almost like he hadn't realized three days had already passed. Quentin herded them in, mumbling something about them letting out all the heat. Scott followed Mother Nature back towards their friend's bedroom.

When they entered the small room they saw Carol adjusting the settings on an electric heater, and a boy sitting on the edge of Bernard's bed, leaning over as he whispered into the Head Elf's ear. The boy had shaggy brown hair and looked to be about fifteen, which meant he was one of the older elves and probably didn't work in the workshop. He sat up and turned to face them as they walked through the door. Scott felt his breath catch in surprise. He may have only seen that face when it was younger, but he'd recognize it anywhere now.

"Hello, Michayl," Scott said, voice sounding loud in the quiet, stuffy room.

Michayl grinned and said with a heavy posh accent much like Quentin's, "hello, Santa. I have to say, I'm surprised you remember my name. We've only ever met the one time, and that was over eight years ago."

Scott let out a shaky breath. It was strange hearing the boy speak without the glamour having to translate for him. He wouldn't have guessed he'd sound different, but Scott had sort of forgotten that everyone in the past wasn't actually using his language, it was just Mother Nature's magic. He wondered if he at all resembled the man who'd worn a glamour and stayed with the elves all those centuries ago. If he did, Michayl obviously didn't remember him. Scott motioned to the sleeping figure on the bed. The elf turned, and reached forward to brush some sweaty curls away from the Head Elf's forehead.

"He's not doing well, I'm afraid. Quentin told me he fell asleep about a day and a half ago, and hasn't woken up since. I stopped by so I could see for myself how he was fairing, but also because the other retirees were worried. They told us you and Mother Nature went on a trip to try and find something to heal him. Did you find it?"

"Y-yea, we did."

"You did? Oh, thank goodness," Carol said, coming over to stand next to her husband.

"Yes, and I'd like to get started trying to help him right away. Carol, do you mind if Santa and I have the room?" Mother Nature asked.

"Oh, of course. Please, do whatever you can. I'm going to go call Judy so she can bring him something to eat and drink for when he wakes up. I'm a little worried about him getting dehydrated." She gave Scott a kiss on the cheek and then left the room, followed by Quentin who'd apparently been standing quietly behind them in the doorway.

Michayl stood up, giving the sleeping elf one last hopeful look before he started to make his way out the door. "I'll just go bring my news to the other retirees. I know Mae's been worried sick the past few days."

"Mae? As in Maerwynn?" Scott wondered.

"Why, yes. I'm surprised you know her full name, Santa. She hasn't gone by that in centuries."

"O-oh. I must have just heard it in passing and it stuck out to me."

He wasn't sure if Michayl believed him, but the boy smiled nonetheless and then said his goodbyes. This left Scott and Mother Nature alone in the room with Bernard. They approached the bed. Their friend's face was splotched with the dark blue of Winter magic. His hair, at least the parts not damp with sweat, was slowly starting to freeze, some strands even having little drops of ice clinging to them. The skin not yet touched by the magic was horribly pale. His breath was coming out in slow, uneven rasps. Mother Nature reached forward and pulled the layers of comforters away from his chest. Scott could see more blue peeking out from underneath the collar of Bernard's green fleece pajamas. Mother Nature summoned a huge ball of Summer magic, turning the already stuffy room into a sauna. She held it over where Bernard's heart would be. He saw a little of the blue recede, but nothing else really happened.

"I don't know if you can here me, Bernard, but I hope you can," Mother Nature whispered gently. "Santa and I are back, and we just want to tell you, what happened with Michayl and Tilly and the other elves wasn't your fault. It wasn't. I know that you think you're to blame, but you weren't. Tilly made her own decisions that day, and so did Michayl. I know it's hard not to carry all the responsibility on your shoulders, but you have to understand that people make their own choices. And though we want to stop them, to protect them, sometimes people make mistakes that get them hurt. It doesn't mean it's our fault. You did everything you could. You told her not to teach the elves. But sometimes, bad things happen, even when we give our all to stop it. It's just the way of the world. It doesn't mean you failed, though."

Scott waited, hoping with all his might that his friend might hear her words. They both stared at him, willing him to move or something. Nothing happened though.

Scott sat down on the edge of the bed opposite Mother Nature. He let his face fall into his hands. "C'mon buddy. Please wake up. I don't know what me or the elves will do without you."

There was nothing but the sound of Bernard's breathing. Scott let his hands fall away so he could stare glumly at the floor.

"We're we too late?" He mumbled.

"Santa..." Mother Nature whispered.

"No, we were, weren't we? We took too long in the past. But I don't see how we could have avoided that! We had to see what was blocking your magic!"

"Santa..."

"I just thought we could help him beat this! I mean, it's Bernard. The guy's made of the toughest stuff I know. I thought he'd pull through."

"_Santa_!"

"Do you ever listen, or do you just like hearing yourself talk?" A weak voice joked. Scott spun around on the bed to see tired brown eyes looking up at him. Bernard gave him a sleepy, amused grin.

"Bernard!"

"Hiya, Boss," he coughed.

"How are you feeling?" Scott asked. He reached forward to place his hand against the elf's forehead.

"Tired, cold, nauseous, the usual."

"We're glad you're awake. We can finally talk about what's stopping you from getting better." Mother Nature said, smiling at the sickly elf.

"There's something stopping me?"

"Yea, and I think you know what it is." Scott answered. Bernard gave him a confused look.

"Tilly, and what happened with Michayl." Mother Nature answered for him.

Bernard frowned and looked away from them. "I don't want to talk about Tilly."

"We need to. Otherwise, you'll just keep freezing."

Bernard turned to face them, and Scott was suddenly reminded of the boy the elf used to be. That brokenness was in his eyes again, making them look dull and hopeless. Wetness was gathering in the corners, so he reached up to wipe at them with a mittened hand. Scott leaned forward so he could grasp at his friend's shoulder reassuringly, hoping that he could impart some strength to the Head Elf.

"You don't understand..." he began.

"But we do." Scott interrupted, "We saw it all, the fight, what happened to Michayl, what you told Mother Natu—"

"_No_, Santa. You don't. Tilly didn't just betray my trust that day. She broke my heart." Bernard let out a shaky breath and moved his gaze to his ceiling. "I thought Tilly was my best friend. We did... everything together. I thought she saw me as an equal, not just some magical creature. That's how a lot the Legendary Figures saw the elves and other fae back then. We were just... _things _that relied on humans to keep our magic alive. But Tilly always acted like we were more than that. Like we mattered. But when she ignored what I had to say, when she took Michayl and nearly froze him, I realized she didn't really think that way. We were... just her play things. She liked that we were cute and that we got to live by our own rules. That's all she ever cared about."

Scott thought of the sobbing girl who ran away when young Bernard had yelled at her to leave. That didn't seem like someone who just wanted a play thing to him. He thought over his words carefully. "I... I know it seems like that now, especially after all these years bottling up all that hurt, but I think Tilly really did care about you. I mean, everything she did that day was because she thought she needed to protect you. Even if it all blew up in her face, you don't go to those lengths for someone you see as an object. You do it for the people you love."

"I don't know if I believe that... but even so, the position that she put me in? She put all the blame on me that day. My whole reason for existing is to take care of the other elves, and I'm not exaggerating, Santa. They need me so they have magic. But suddenly she was using me to convince the other elves to use Winter Magic? Michayl wasn't the only one she asked, just the only one who said yes. I found out later there was a whole group she'd talked to."

"Even if she used you to try and convince them, it doesn't mean it was your fault." Mother Nature said.

"But it does. Because I let her teach me, even though I knew it was dangerous. I thought it was exciting that we were sneaking around so she could teach me. She used to say she wanted me to be just as good as her with Winter magic, so that one day we could show the Legendary Figures just how special the elves were. I thought that meant she was on our side.

"But no, all she did was make it so that I was the reason I almost lost an elf. That's happened before, me losing an elf, long before I'd even met Tilly. You have no idea how much that _hurts. _It's like being ripped apart from the inside out, and not being able to do anything about it. And I'd told Tilly about that, long before we ever got into that stupid fight. But she still went ahead with her crazy plan, even after I asked her not to. I knew the elves would be scared, I told her they would be, but she didn't care."

"Buddy, I think you're missing the point," Scott said. Bernard opened his mouth to argue, but Scott held up a hand to quiet him. "Let me finish, please. You knew all along there was no special cure that Tilly did, right? You wanted us to go back, not only to see what really happened, but I bet it's because you knew the person we needed to talk to was the past Mother Nature. I bet you remembered two strangers showing up one day asking for help with a sick friend and how they got the information they needed from Mother Nature. You could have just told us all this, and we would have gone straight to her, but you wanted us to be there for you and Michayl and the other elves. And I think it's because you want someone to convince you it wasn't your fault.

"I understand why you think it was. The other elves look up to you, so of course they were going to follow what you did and try to learn Winter magic. But trust me, Bernard, just because that might be true doesn't mean you're to blame. We each make our own decisions, good and bad. And I know it's a little different, because if the consequences are an elf getting hurt, you feel it too. But that doesn't mean your responsible for every mistake they make. When Quentin wasn't paying attention when he was working on the sleigh last year, and he accidentally got some wires crossed and somehow melted it's entire radar system, did you blame yourself?"

"Of course not."

"Right. And when Abby tripped in the workshop last month and spilled that huge pot of cocoa over that cart of unwrapped finished toys, did you blame yourself then?"

"No, but—"

"But nothing. The mistakes others make are not ours to carry. Everyone screws up sometimes. That's life. And yea, you can sit around worrying about the what if's and driving yourself mad imagining what would have happened if the situation had been worse, but that's no way to live. You'll miss out on so much living life like that. And _you _are going to miss out on a lot if you keep blaming yourself for what happened to Michayl, because as long as you keep holding on to this you'll never get better."

Bernard looked up at Scott and then at the bright shining ball of Summer magic still being held over his chest. "I... I've blamed myself for a really long time. It might... take me a while to let all those feelings go."

"That's okay. You just need to accept that it's time for you to start healing. I believe that's all my magic needs to start working." Mother Nature said.

Bernard gave them a watery smile and then nodded his head. The ball of magic intensified, waves of heat rolling off of it, and Scott watched with joyful relief as more of the blue started to recede. They stayed with Bernard until every inch of his skin was free of the magic's effects. It was late afternoon by the time Mother Nature declared him healed, though she warned him that he may still feel a little queasy over the next few days. Bernard thanked her, and he even gave her a hug goodbye.

Scott stayed longer at the elf's house, making sure he ate the pile of food Judy brought him, and that he didn't touch the stack of overdue paperwork he'd insisted Curtis bring. Bernard told him more stories about what it was like before the elves had a Santa Claus, and Scott teased him about cuddling with the Tiny Quentin, which made Bernard blush.

"Hey, I raised him! I pretty much raised all the elves. You think he's the only one who ever insisted on cuddling with me?"

Scott laughed. "Tell me Curtis did too. I bet his face would turn beet red if I brought that up."

"No, he was never much of a cuddler. He was more... fussy, I guess. He didn't really like to be held and he hated playing with the other little ones because they never followed the rules to his games."

"Sounds like Curtis," Scott chuckled. He'd pulled in the small workbench to sit on so Bernard didn't have to stare up at him from the bed. Bernard was grinning, probably from imagining other things his number two elf had done when he was very little. Scott cleared his throat, a question coming to mind that he wasn't sure he wanted to ask. "Hey, bud, can I... ask you something. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering... what happened after that Legendary Council meeting? I know Tilly got banished but... did she ever try to come back?"

Bernard shook his head. "I don't know exactly what happened, all I know is that she didn't even fight her banishment. After they all voted, she told Mother Nature she'd go willingly. I never heard anything about her after that."

"Do you think they turned her human again? I mean, took away her powers and everything."

"They couldn't have. Her heart was frozen. You can't unfreeze a heart."

"So... what, she's still out there somewhere?"

"Maybe? I know a couple centuries later a new Spirit of winter was chosen, and then after that came Jack Frost, but I don't know where the old Spirits go when Nature decides it's time for someone else to herald the season."

"Huh..."

"No, Santa."

"No what?"

"No, I'm never going to look for her, so don't even suggest it."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Right," Bernard scoffed, but it was in a playful way. He looked over at Scott, and gave him him a smile so genuine, the Legendary Figure couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you for going through so much for me, Santa. And... thank you for being my friend."

Scott had to clear his throat before he responded. The tone of the boy's words was making his throat feel a little tight. "Anytime, buddy... and thanks for being mine, too."


	11. Chapter 11 Epilogue

**Here's the epilogue! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading and much love from Lunettawolf321!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of The Santa Clause series.**

The next couple of weeks went by quickly. Bernard was on his feet and back in the workshop within a matter of days, though all his friends kept a close eye on him in case he started to feel ill again. Scott had taken to meeting with him once a week, not to discuss business, but to talk about the feelings he'd kept buried for fifteen hundred years. He'd gotten the idea from Neil, who said Bernard needed a safe place to start processing his emotions. He thought about telling the elf to start making appointments with the psychiatrist, but he knew he'd never get the boy away from the workshop. Neil had given him some pointers on what to say, but mostly he just told Scott to let Bernard do all the talking. It was a little awkward at first, but eventually the Head Elf started to open up, and now seemed to even enjoy their weekly get-together. Scott was happy he'd found a way to help his friend, though he always made sure to have Neil's number ready to be dialed in case something happened and he needed a professional's help.

Today they were meeting on Bernard's lunch break. Judy had brought them sandwiches and cocoa, so the two of them sat in the squishy armchairs of Santa's office happily enjoying their food as Bernard talked about some of the guilt he felt.

"...and honestly, I was kind of glad when Michayl decided to retire. It was so hard to see him everyday in the workshop. I mean, I saw him a lot before we moved to the North Pole, but the older elves were allowed to go out on their own, so some days I only ever said good morning and good night to him. When we were working in the workshop together though, it was just like this constant reminder. Not that Michayl blamed me, I know he didn't. It's just... I was blaming myself, so it hurt every time I saw him."

Scott nodded his head, taking a deep sip of his cocoa. He waited for Bernard to continue, because from the way he was staring at his sandwich, the Legendary Figure knew there was something else he wanted to say.

"Santa... I know it's a little off topic, but can I tell you something?"

"You can tell me anything, Bernard."

The elf smiled. "I was really surprised that you'd figured out how I knew all along that you and Mother Nature were the strangers I met all those years ago. I thought I was going to have to tell you."

"Well, Mother Nature is really the one who figured it out," he laughed, "but once she told me, it made perfect sense. There is one thing I didn't get though."

"What's that?"

"That iron bracelet you had? Why did you even have it? Where did it come from?"

Bernard grinned at him. "I got it from _you, _Santa."

"W-what?"

"That was the iron bracelet Tilly stole out of your bag. After you and Mother Nature left, I sent word to _that time's_ Mother Nature, and asked for her to get the bracelet back from Tilly for me."

"Why?"

"I honestly just didn't want her to have anything of yours. You guys were really nice to me, so I thought I'd keep it in case I ever saw you again. I never did, well, at least I thought I never did. But, I've never been able to bring myself to get rid of it. I guess now I know why. I wasn't meant to."

"So, that thing was fifteen hundred years old?" Scott asked.

Bernard nodded. "Mother Nature put a preservation spell on it before she gave it to me. I'm guessing she knew who the two of you were? I can't think of any other reason she'd do that."

"She did." Scott set down his drink as a question came to mind. "When did you realize that we were the people you met right before your fight with Tilly?"

"When Mother Nature said she was sending word to Father Time to get his help. As soon as she said it, I remembered these two strange people I met right before everything happened with Tilly and Michayl. It only took me a second to connect the dots, after all, you told me your real name."

"Oh, yea.." Scott laughed.

"That's why I swiped your watch. I remembered how you kept looking at it and talking about how much time there was left. With what I know about Time magic, I figured it must have been a countdown clock, so I put one in."

"That reminds me, how on earth did you learn to pickpocket like that? I never even felt you take it."

"I taught myself, and well," Bernard gave his boss a mischievous grin and held up his hand. In his grasp was the watch. "Practice makes perfect."

"Wha- how? When?" Scott spluttered. Bernard let out a hearty laugh. The Legendary Figure pinned his friend with a glare, though the severity of it was diminished by the smile creeping onto his face. "Don't make me ask Carol to give you community service. She'll have you scraping graffiti at the crack of dawn."

"There's no graffiti at the North Pole."

"There will be when I ask Charlie to come up and paint some!"

Their teasing was interrupted by a steady beeping from Scott's watch. Lunch was over, and so was their talk. For today at least. Bernard gave the watch back to its owner and then stood to make his leave. He paused before heading to the door. "Thank you, Santa, for doing this."

"You don't have to thank me buddy, it's just something friend's do."

"Well, I still appreciate it." Bernard gave him one last smile, before heading out the door and down the hall to the workshop. Scott smiled to himself, and then heaved himself to his feet. There was blueprints to check, wrapping paper to pick out, not to mention a council meeting coming up in just a few days. He walked over to his desk where he saw a package that he was sure wasn't there before. The paper was a deep maroon color, with little pictures of holly leaves decorating it, and a hunter green ribbon. Underneath the ribbon was a card, so Scott removed it and broke the wax seal so he could read the note inside. It simply said "Yours, B" in a very familiar curly script. Scott smiled, and then slid off the ribbon and tore the paper away. He opened the box and looked inside. A beautiful snow globe was sitting inside some very glittery tissue paper. Scott carefully removed it so he could gaze at it in the light. Inside the glass ball were several snowy trees and three figures. Two of them were tall, and the third was of a young boy. One of the tall figures was a portly man dressed in a fuzzy red coat. The other was of a smiling woman in a beautiful purple gown and a gold headpiece. The boy in between them had a mess of dark curls with tiny green leaves braided throughout, and he was smiling up at them. They were all holding hands. Scott shook the snow globe, and admired the way the fake snow drifted down onto the figures. Suddenly, the ball came to life and he watched with delight as the three friends waved up at him, the boy in the middle using the adult's hands to wave so he wouldn't have to let go of them. When the snow and magic finally settled, Scott set the present back onto his desk carefully. He plopped down into his chair, a smile stretched across his face.

Looks like he had a new favorite snow globe to add to his collection.


End file.
